2020

SJ8498 : Tree of Remembrance, Piccadilly Gardens

taken 4 years ago, near to Manchester, England

This is 1 of 6 images, with title starting with Tree of in this square
Tree of Remembrance, Piccadilly Gardens
Tree of Remembrance, Piccadilly Gardens
The “Tree of Remembrance” is a metal sculpture of a tree at the Mosley Street end of Piccadilly Gardens. It is easy to overlook it as it merges and matches with the real trees and the urban landscape.

The sculpture, created by "Wolfgang & Heron" (Wolfgang Buttress and Fiona Heron), was commissioned by Manchester City Council as a memorial to the many hundreds of civilians who died in the Nazi bombing of Manchester in World War II, particularly during the “Manchester Blitz” LinkExternal link on 22/23 December 1940 when around 500 German bombers dropped 467 tons of high explosive and 2000 incendiary bombs on the city over the two nights. The ten metre-high tree has metal rings around the trunk that have engraved upon them the names of the Manchester people who lost their lives.

The memorial was erected on the site in May of 2005, on the 60th anniversary of V E Day. Its location at the south-west corner of Piccadilly Gardens is appropriate as the nearby Piccadilly Hotel and City Tower were built on the site of blitzed textile warehouses.
Piccadilly Gardens

Piccadilly has been a focal point in the city of Manchester for generations. Prior to 1910, the site which later became Piccadilly Gardens was occupied by The Manchester Royal Infirmary. When the Infirmary was demolished, it was originally planned to build a new art gallery on the site but this plan didn’t come to fruition and in the end a sunken garden was created with a wide promenade around the statues.

LinkExternal link shows the gardens as they were laid out after the Second World War, following heavy bombing. It was painted by LS Lowry in 1954. SJ8498 : Piccadilly Gardens (1979) is a photograph showing the gardens as they were in 1979.

However, in 2002, the Piccadilly Gardens area was redesigned resulting in the removal of the sunken garden to be replaced by a grassed area and the building of a charmless concrete wall dividing the new "Gardens" from the busy bus and tram interchange. To pay for this redevelopment, an office building was erected, using the south east corner of the gardens. There is a fountain which provides a pleasant gathering point in sunny weather (SJ8498 : Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester) but the grassy area soon becomes muddy when it is wet.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright David Dixon and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Street [1674] · Manchester [1499] · Piccadilly [900] · Piccadilly Gardens [580] · City [388] ·
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Grid Square
SJ8498, 3956 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
David Dixon   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Wednesday, 23 December, 2020   (more nearby)
Submitted
Monday, 28 December, 2020
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SJ 843 982 [100m precision]
WGS84: 53:28.8657N 2:14.2735W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SJ 842 982
View Direction
EAST (about 90 degrees)
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Image Type (about): geograph 
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