• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

St Martin's Circus & Manzoni Gardens

Lucy, This is a 1961 photo from the DJ Norton Archive on the internet. St Martins Circus was a large roundabout part of Queensway which encompassed the open air market, Manzoni Gardens and some of the shops in the Bull Ring. If you look at this picture then think today and imagine you are standing in Debenham's store looking at New Street Station, you would be more or less over Manzoni Gardens.

Sorry I should have said the Geoff Thompson Archive. The webpage was slightly confusing.
 

Attachments

  • ManzoniGardens.jpg
    ManzoniGardens.jpg
    95.4 KB · Views: 43
Last edited:
A lot of people loved the King Kong statue and some have campaigned to bring it back. Personally I hated it and thought it was an insult to Sir Herbert Manzoni whom I had met.
 
The D J Norton site certainly has a lot of nice interesting photos from the 1950s and 1960s.
 
Lucy

A couple of photos of the old Market Hall which as I said earlier was replaced with Manzoni Gardens. The first photo is early in the demolition process when most of the buildings around it had been demolished but it was still in use. The second photo is from 1963 when the Bull Ring Centre was open and the Rotunda was going up and the market hall was being used as a builders compound. It wasn't long after this that they demolished the shell of the marker hall and laid out Manzoni Gardens.
 

Attachments

  • City Bull Ring Old Market Hall isolated.jpg
    City Bull Ring Old Market Hall isolated.jpg
    210.1 KB · Views: 40
  • City Bull Ring Market 1963.jpg
    City Bull Ring Market 1963.jpg
    383 KB · Views: 41
Phil,

I and quite a few others on here never knew Manzoni Gardens simply because we had been absent from the city since the early 1960s - in my case January 1961 - and didn't have cause to go that way until after they were demolished. My first visit to central Birmingham after 1961 was in 1988 to Aston Uni, at that time our only academic library customer before the decision was taken to ditch the academic libraries from our otherwise public library base.

In my humble opinion Manzoni made a mess of the Bull Ring and it is still a mess now - I think over-development is the phrase I am looking for.

Maurice
 
Were the gardens well used? I think I rarely went there. Viv.
Hi Viv,
The gardens were well used as a route from the Bull Ring to the main part of town, New Street, Corporation Street etc. It was a pleasant place to sit and rest if your shopping had tired you out. At night it became a haven for vagrants.

Old Boy
 
Hi Phil,

Thank you for your help! Yes, I have a rough idea of where abouts it is now. I must have been around 2-3 years old when it was demolished then. I've enjoyed having a look at all the photos of the old Bull-Ring, as it's interesting to see how different it is compared to what it use to be.

It's a shame it was demolished as it looks like a beautiful place.
Very interested in finding out more about our city and how far it has developed over the years. :)

Thanks all.

Lucy
 
Lucy

A couple of photos of the old Market Hall which as I said earlier was replaced with Manzoni Gardens. The first photo is early in the demolition process when most of the buildings around it had been demolished but it was still in use. The second photo is from 1963 when the Bull Ring Centre was open and the Rotunda was going up and the market hall was being used as a builders compound. It wasn't long after this that they demolished the shell of the marker hall and laid out Manzoni Gardens.
Phil, Would the row of gables beyond the market hall be Worcester St?
 
You could look down on the gardens if you walked across the covered in bridge (behind the photographer or maybe the photographer took the photo from the bridge). We used to cross that bridge every Saturday to go to Silver Blades Rink. It was always very busy with people passing through it. I don’t think I ever went through those gardens to get anywhere. Viv.
 
Back
Top