Sheffield Peace Gardens

The Peace Gardens stand on the former site of St Paul's Church, which was demolished in 1938. They take their name from Neville Chamberlain's declaration of 'peace in our time' from the same year, but their official title is St. Paul's Gardens.

The gardens were revamped, with new paving and water features, and work was completed in 1998.

The redevelopment is part of the Heart of the City project, partly funded through the National Lottery backed Millennium Commission.

For more information go to the Sheffield City Council website at: http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/environment/buildings/city-centre/city-centre-masterplan/heart-of-the-city.

What makes it good?

• Surfaces and pathways are fairly level
• Wheelchair access is good
• The main water feature is a ground level fountain which folks can run through, watch, touch, wheel through, and listen to together
• Even on a dull day (as seen in these images) people come out to play at these gardens (not something that you see everywhere, let's admit it!)
• The night lighting provides a feeling of safety and ensures the place is not empty after 5pm (some places do not cater for mixed user groups who may visit gardens/parks at different times, which can ensure they are empty at certain times of the day. For example some urban parks are only full when office workers have their lunch outside, whereas in this case the water features, lighting, and sculptures keep different groups visiting throughout the day.)
• Tree lights provide a festive feel, throughout the year. Well we liked that anyway!

Things to note

There are steps, but level ground entrances/exits are not specifically marked for wheelchairs. In other words it doesn't feel like the place has exclusive walk/wheel ways apart from one another.

At the time of our visit (May 2003) there wasn't any eating or toilet facilities in the gardens. They are, however, surrounded by services.

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