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.

Congratulations to St James' Park which has just been awarded a Green Flag. St James' Park re-opened in 2011 following 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 boasts a cafe, botanical and scenic walks, children's playground with climbing wall, outdoor gym equipment and tennis courts.

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.

Find your local park by using Google maps.

Use the scroll keys + or - to zoom in or zoom out. Use your mouse cursor to drag the map around in any direction. If you want to see a larger map then click on the link provided underneath the map.