Swinton Grove Park originally formed the grounds of 84 Plymouth Grove. At that time the property was more extensive than it is today and stood on the then fringe of town set in the near countryside. From 1850 Elizabeth Gaskell, the prolific and much celebrated author who detailed contemporary ‘every-day’ social commentaries on the problems faced by working class people living in industrial towns and cities, inhabited the house with her husband, the minister of Cross Street Chapel, and their daughters.

In 1900 Miss Julia Gaskell and Miss Meta (Margaret Emily) Gaskell assisted in securing Plymouth Grove Green (what we know today as Swinton Grove Park) and had the satisfaction of seeing the land converted into one of the nicest little greens in Manchester.

Consisting mainly of grassy areas used as a playground for children with borders of trees, shrubs, and flowerbeds, the park also had one corner used for bowling, flanked by a flower garden. Here elderly patrons and shop keepers who found business slack in the afternoon would take turn at the woods (bowls) or sit in the sun and look on with approving eye at the skill of others. In the mornings and afternoons the playground was a chosen exercise ground and promenade for nurse and their charges.

In time the grounds were acquired by the City Council to be used mainly as a playground by children. Today, Swinton Grove Park has an undulating landscape of amenity grassland, rough grassland, scattered mature trees and contains the oldest black mulberry tree in Greater Manchester.

To find out more about Gaskell House, 84 Plymouth Grove, visit the Gaskell Society website.