White City, Greater Manchester

A picture of the gateway to the Botanical gardens from 1832

Today, White City is a retail park

The White City Retail Park is a retail park on the south side of Chester Road in the Old Trafford area of Trafford, Greater Manchester in England, at the southeast corner of the docks area and southeast of Manchester United's ground. It is the site of the former Manchester Botanic Gardens which hosted the Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857. The gateway of the Botanic Gardens still stands at the edge of the retail park. During its history, White City has also been the site of an amusement park and a stadium.

History of the site

In 1827 the Botanical and Horticultural Society was founded in Manchester to encourage the study of botany and horticulture.^[1] The society built a botanical garden on the site covering 16 acres (65,000 m²). The site was chosen by John Dalton for the society as it was down-wind of pollution from the city. The land, which was owned by Thomas de Trafford, was leased to the society at a price of the society's choosing.^[2][3]

The gardens featured a complex of plant houses and a conservatory that was built by Clarke and Jones of Birmingham. The building hwas 321 feet (98 m) in length and the conservatory had a 40 feet (12 m) high dome. The buildings were heated by a system of hot water flowing through pipes.^[3][4] The Grade II listed gateway that still faces Chester Road was the entrance to the gardens.^[5]

In 1857 the gardens hosted the Art Treasures Exhibition which was opened by Prince Albert. The exhibition was visited by 1.3million visitors in 142-days. A further exhibition was held in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. This exhibition attracted 4.74 million people over 192-days.^[3]

By the end of the nineteenth century, interest in the gardens was waning as the wealthy moved away from the city centre. In 1907, part of the garden's site was leased to White City limited, a company set up by Heathcote and Brown. The company opened the "White City Amusement Park" on the site on 20 May 1907.^[6]

The remaining 11 acres (45,000 m²) was sold to Canine Sports Ltd on 1 November 1927 for the construction of a stadium.^[3] The site held its first motorcycle speedway race on 16 July 1928. With the stadium being completed and greyhound racing starting in 1930.^[7]

In July 1953 a 6-lane cinder track for athletics was made.

The stadium started to host Stock car racing run by Mike Parker Promotions in 1972, with the track being asphalted in 1976. However, the stadium fell into disrepair and closed in 1982.^[7]

References

Notes

1. ^ Worthington 2002, p. 261
2. ^ Percy 1832, pp. 129–130
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Archive of the Royal Botanical and Horticultural Society of Manchester and the Northern Counties, Archives Hub, http://archiveshub.ac.uk/features/0503rbhs.html, retrieved 3 December 2010 
4. ^ Love 1839, pp. 121–123
5. ^ Entrance Portal And Lodges To Former White City Greyhound Track, Heritage Gateway, http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=212974&resourceID=5, retrieved 3 December 2010 
6. ^ http://manchesterhistory.net/whitecity/amusementpark.html
7. ^ ^{a b} http://manchesterhistory.net/whitecity/stock.html

Bibliography

• Love, Benjamin (1839), Manchester as it is, Love and Barton 
• Percy, Reuben; Timbs, John. (3 March 1832), The Mirror of literature, amusement, and instruction, 19, J. Limbird 
• Worthington, Barry (2002), Discovering Manchester, Sigma Leisure, ISBN 978-1-85058-774-3 

See also

• Art Treasures Exhibition, Manchester 1857
• Botanical Gardens Cricket Ground
• Royal Jubilee Exhibition, Manchester 1887

Coordinates: 53°27′40″N 2°17′02″W / 53.461°N 2.284°W / 53.461; -2.284