St John's Ornamental and Memorial Garden was opened in 1904 and is the only area of public greenspace within the heart of Liverpool's city centre. This makes it an important leisure resource as well as a heritage asset.
St George's Hall, one of the city's most important buildings, is situated on a plateau to the north west of the city centre and St John's Garden occupies the area to the west sloping down towards Old Haymarket and the entrance to the Mersey Tunnel. The garden slopes away from St George's Hall and has formal lawns and planting beds divided by symmetrical paths. The formal layout of the garden encompasses an amphitheatre, terrace and many important statues and memorials. Liverpool has one of the most important collections of public sculptures, much of which is displayed in St John's Gardens.
All the monuments as well as the retaining wall, terrace wall and gate piers are listed in the Register of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.
Naturally a plateau of open heath, the development of the area began in the form of windmills, lime kilns and markets. The names of several of the adjacent streets such as Lime Street and Old Haymarket derived from these early uses.
During the mid 18th century Liverpool began its first phase of rapid expansion. In 1767 the area of the garden was enclosed as a general burial ground with a small mortuary chapel. It was in 1775 that the first stones were laid for St John's Church which was designed in the gothic style by the architect Thomas Litoller. Construction of the church was completed in 1784.
In 1854 work began on St George's Hall, designed in Neo-classical style by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, winner of the architectural competition for the building. St John's Church had been located hard against the west elevation of St George's Hall and was a factor in the more simple design form of this side of the Hall, with its lack of a portico.
St John's Garden, located at the rear of St Georges Hall, takes its name from St John's Church and churchyard which once occupied the site. The cemetery containing approximately 27,000 bodies was closed in 1854. At the end of the 19th century, in order to improve the prospect of St. George's Hall and the adjacent civic buildings, the area was laid out as a terraced garden. The garden now contains a dazzling array of sculptures by some of the best Victorian and Edwardian sculptors.
During the Napoleonic Wars, many french sailors were captured by the Royal Navy, and even more by privateers. They were brought back to Liverpool and incarcerated in Liverpool Gaol near St Nicholas's Church, on the site that is now the Tower Building. At one time more than 4,000 French P.O.Ws were held there, and many occupied their time making a variety of goods and novelties to sell.
After the Peace of Amiens in 1802, 1,100 were liberated from the gaol and returned to their homeland. Many prisoners however, died in the ghastly conditions of the prison and were buried here when it was St James' Churchyard. At the base of the semi-circular retaining wall a plaque in French and English was erected by the French Government. It reads: To her sons who died in captivity in Liverpool in 1772/1803 and whose bodies lie here in the old cemetery of St John the Baptist. France ever grateful.
Soon after the work commenced on St George's Hall, developments began which led to the demolition of St John's Church and later to the laying out of St John's Garden. In 1865 the churchyard was closed for burials, and then in 1880 Liverpool was established as a separate diocese from Chester and a Cathedral was planned to the West of St George's Hall on the site of St John's Church. It was decided that the Anglican Cathedral should be located at St James' Mount to dominate the Hope Street skyline, avoiding a clash in styles between the two major buildings and providing a great civic space more fully revealing the Western elevation of St George's Hall. In 1897 under the Liverpool Churches Act, St John's was closed.
The garden is claimed to have been designed initially by the sculptor, George Frampton, as a setting for existing and proposed pieces of public sculpture reflecting the City's new found economic, political and cultural status. Frampton's masterplan was thought to have been for an Italian garden, and although not completely carried out, it contributed towards providing Liverpool with a magnificent sculpture garden which is recognised as one of the major groups of outdoor public monuments of the early twentieth century.
The statues in the garden, which was opened on 20th June 1904, were produced by some of the most famous names in Victorian sculpture such as Frampton, Sir Thomas Brock and Pomeroy. The monuments with the garden and the gate piers and terrace wall are now listed reflecting their national historic and architectural importance.
If you are visiting Liverpool thisis a must seeand is truly one of the hidden gems that I would urge you not to read more