Queen's Gardens is a sequence of gardens in the centre of

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. They are set out within a area that until 1930 was filled with the waters of Queen's Dock. As the dock was not fully filled in, the gardens are largely below the level of the surrounding streets.

Description

The gardens have a central avenue of trees aligned with the Wilberforce Monument to the east, which is fronted by a pool with fountains. The statue of

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

atop a large Doric column was moved to this site in 1935 and originally dominated the gardens. However, the construction of Sir

Frederick Gibberd Sir Frederick Ernest Gibberd CBE (7 January 1908 – 9 January 1984) was an English architect, town planner and landscape designer. He is particularly known for his work in Harlow, Essex, and for the BISF house, a design for a prefabricated ...

's building for

Hull College Hull College is a Further Education and Higher Education establishment based in Kingston upon Hull, England. It provides vocational courses, apprenticeships, Higher Education and adult learning courses, with a focus on equipping young people ...

behind the column in 1962 has reduced its impact. Most visitors approach the gardens from the west, through a circus of flower gardens at street level around the "Rosebowl" fountain. Slopes and steps lead down from this area into the main area of the sunken gardens. Either side of the central avenue there are broad areas of lawn, interspersed with smaller borders filled with perennials, and another two large fountain pools. The formal central axis of the gardens is now diminished by post-war planting of Japanese cherry trees in the central avenue, many of which are now over-mature and showing signs of stress. Vistas from the Rosebowl gardens into the main gardens were previously blocked by overgrown shrubberies on the slope between the two levels until recent renovations in 2017 to open out the area in-between the two sections of the park. Renovations also updated the pools and introduced a number of art installations. SFEC HULL CRUSOE1

On the north side of the Gardens a plaque commemorates

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' ( ) is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary novel, epistolary, Confessional writing, confessional, and Didacticism, didactic forms, the ...

, the famous fictional character who sailed from Hull in 1651 on the voyage that ended with him castaway on a desert island for over 28 years. The plaque includes the quotation, "Had I the sense to return to Hull, I had 'i.e.'' would havebeen happy." The Peace Garden, at the eastern end of the park, was instituted by

Hull City Council Hull City Council, or Kingston upon Hull City Council, is the local authority for the city of Kingston upon Hull (generally known as Hull) in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull has had a council since 1299, whic ...

for the UN's

International Year of Peace The International Year of Peace was recognized in 1986 by the United Nations. It was first proposed during the UN conference of November 1981 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council, with a date associated with the fortieth anniversary of ...

in 1986. This was led by Alice Tulley, a councillor and a Quaker, with support from the local CND group. Peace events were held there with the mayor in attendance. Since then the Quakers have held a Meeting there each year to commemorate Hiroshima Day. This falls on the Sunday nearest the anniversary of the bombings of

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

and

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

. Victoria Square is at western end of the gardens, leading to the

Princes Quay Princes Quay is a shopping centre in the heart of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The centre is unusual in that it is built on stilts over '' Prince's Dock'' after which it is named. It was opened in 1991. Description To ...

shopping centre and the

Ferens Art Gallery The Ferens Art Gallery is an art gallery in the English city of Kingston upon Hull. The site and money for the gallery were donated to the city by Thomas Ferens, after whom it is named. The architects were S. N. Cooke and E. C. Dav ...

. The gardens are well used, particularly by the local student population. In 2005, the new

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

development was completed at the north-west corner of the gardens. This incorporates a tall apartment block. In 2006, it was announced that Hull Citybuild – Hull's Urban Regeneration Company – had been working with

to bring forward "a major public realm design competition" for Queen's Gardens and Victoria Square. In August 2017, a £310,000 sculpture, Solar Gate, was installed in the gardens as part of the public realms work for the 2017 UK City Of Culture. In February 2022, the first phase of a £11.7 million redevelopment of the gardens began. The second phase started in June 2023 and is expected to take 14 months to complete.

References

External links

Maritime Hull page for Queen's Gardens redevelopment
{{Kingston upon Hull, state=collapsed Parks and open spaces in Kingston upon Hull Gardens in the East Riding of Yorkshire