Platt Fields Park

Platt Fields Park is a large public park in Fallowfield, Manchester, England which is home to Platt Hall. Fallowfield lies to the south and Wilmslow Road runs along its eastern edge. Its north-eastern corner is close to the start of the Curry Mile.

The centrepiece of the park is a large pleasure pond, which was once used for boating and fishing. The pond has an island sanctuary in the middle, as well as a pondside visitors' centre and a boathouse. The park also contains part of Gore Brook and part of the Nico (Mickle) Ditch.

There are gardens of different kinds, including community orchard gardens, which contain ferns, roses and heathers. There is also an educational garden and an environmental area, as well as Elizabeth II Jubilee gardens and an Eco Arts garden near to the boating pond. There is a Shakespearean garden located in the Ashfield part of the park in the south-east corner that was designed to have only plants mentioned in Shakespeare's works. The Ashfield area also has an arch from the nave of Manchester Cathedral, which was previously located at Manley Hall, Manchester for a time. Ashfield was added to the park at a later date: it was formerly the site of Ashfield House and was donated to the city by Edward Donner.

In the north-eastern area of the park, near Platt Hall, stands the Queen Elizabeth Coronation fountain. This was moved to Platt Fields in 2002. The fountain had originally stood at the centre of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester City Centre, where it had been installed to mark the occasion of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The fountain can be seen in L. S. Lowry's 1954 oil painting Piccadilly Gardens in its original position in the sunken garden.

There is a labyrinth and picnic area, a veterans' pavilion and children's playgrounds. One playground is for toddlers up to age 5, with the other for kids up to the age of 9. Both are located near to the Lakeside Centre. Sports facilities include a pair of bowling greens and courts for basketball, five-a-side, roller hockey, tennis, as well as a mini soccer pitch, cycle pathways and a skate park. A new BMX track was completed at the South end of the park in the summer of 2008.

The old boathouse is now the location of Platt Fields Bike Hub, a community project involved in bicycle repairs, bike hire and other cycling-oriented projects activities.

There are three dedicated show fields in the park, which have the infrastructure to host large and small scale national and local events. Events hosted in the park have included the Manchester Mela and Eid Festival, as well as annual fireworks and bonfire displays. Until 2003 the site hosted the Manchester Flower Show. Facilities-wise, the site has a car park with disabled parking and toilets. The site also has a park office.

The first known mention of the area is from 1150, at which time the "lands of Platt" were given to the Knights of St John by "Matthew, Son of William". Gore Brook is mentioned as being present at the time. The Platt family obtained the estate in 1225, and owned the land for the next 400 years. In 1625 it passed to the Worsley family, and was then a country park bordering on the Cheshire Plain, and called the Platt Hall Estate. The park was landscaped by William Emes in 1768. The Worsley family owned the estate until 1907.