- Birchfields Park -

The image above is shown with the permission of Graham Todd

Birchfields Park is a remnant of the Birch Estate, which in the 1830s was owned by John Dickenson, after whom Dickenson Road was named. The map below, dated 1850 shows the site, near the junction of Anson and Dickenson Roads, when it was open fields.  I added the name of Anson Road and coloured in Gore Brook.

John Dickenson sold part of the estate located north of the road, named after him, to the company which created the exclusive Victoria Park community. In 1873 the ownership of the remaining estate south of Victoria Park passed through the Dickenson Family to Sir William Anson who lent his name to the road which joins Dickenson Road at the Birchfields Park gates.

The 32 acre park opened to the public in 1887.  The boulder shown in the image above was discovered by a building contracotor working on a nearby estate.  It weighs 13 tonnes and was presented to the park as an object of curiosity.  Apparently it is a glacial eratic carried to the Manchester area by the glaciers from the northern pennines.

The park was regarded as a place of beauty where you could stroll among well kept gardens.

Gore Brook snakes its way through the park.

During World War II the park, like many of Manchester's parks, was used as a barrage balloon site.

In 2001, the Manchester Corporation reports that Birchfields Park has a playground, a large open show field and two 5-a-side football pitches. It also says that part of the park is to be developed into a wild flower meadow with poppies, cornflowers and marigolds.