St James' Park

St James' Park is located in Shirley between St James' Road, Winchester Road, Wordsworth Road and Church Street. The popular park covers 2.3 hectares and has an interesting history and heritage, which is being uncovered as part of a parks for people project. Historical maps show that the site was used as a nursery in 1865 and by 1897 use had changed to a gravel pit. It is also rumoured that the land was at one time designated for a railway station or siding but this has yet to be proved. Council archives record that the land was bought in 1907 and gravel extraction continued until the land was finally landscaped in 1911 for public use.

St James Park, Church Street, Upper Shirley, Southampton, SO15 5LW.

St James' Park has recently undergone extensive restoration and improvement works under a parks for people project, jointly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Big Lottery Fund and Southampton City Council, in partnership with Friends of St James' Park (FoSJP). The park has a new community cafe, new entrances, botanical and scenic walks, new trees and landscaping, a completely refurbished children's playground, a climbing wall and outdoor gym equipment and new tennis courts.

These are just some of the comments people have made about the new park.

• “Awesome! It’s good. It’s clever there are not other parks like it.”
• “It’s beautiful it feels like you have gone to the seaside.”
• “I think it’s lovely really, really beautiful place.”
• “I think the park is cool and amazing.”
• “I think it’s stunning. I think there is so much here for the children and there’s a cup of tea here for us.”
• “I think it’s wonderful and I will bring my great grandson here that’s for sure.”
• “I love it, it looks fantastic. Money well spent. We’re going to live here in the summer.”
• “We will be coming here on the way to and from school every single day. It is extremely adventurous and my daughter loves it.”
• “We love the palm trees. The palm trees are fabulous.”
• “It’s absolutely wonderful it’s just so exciting and there are so many things to do. It’s brilliant.”
• “I’m 12 years old and I think it is really awesome.”
• “It’s modern with facilities like the gym and the zip wire is very good.”

Friends of St James' Park (FoSJP) was formed by local residents in January 2006 to help improve the park for the community and has a membership base of over 400, the largest group of its type in Southampton. With support from Southampton City Council, FoSJP set up a refreshments kiosk in the old World War II ARP building in the park in August 2006 and operated it using volunteers until September 2010, paving the way for the new cafe to be built in the park. FoSJP has organised a number of public events in St James' Park, including Park100 in 2007 to celebrate 100 years since the land was bought for public use, an event which attracted 10,000 visitors.

Use the link on the left to visit FoSJP's website and find out more about what's happening in St James' Park.

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