Sensory Coronation Garden

The Sensory Garden, (formerly Coronation Garden) was previously St Mary’s Church Burial Ground and is located on North Bar Within (that’s a street name) Beverley, East Yorkshire. ( sat nav use post code HU17 8DG | global co-ordinates 53.844547, -0.435567 )
The gates are locked closed over night, the closing time varies with the seasons.

Plaque: Beverley, St Mary's Church burial ground was restructured as The Queen's Coronation Garden.

The Coronation Garden was constructed to commemorate the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and was completed in 1955.
On the fiftieth anniversary of it’s opening in 2005 an area was created as a Sensory garden. Trees, shrubs, plants and grasses were chosen that are aromatic, or have leaves that rustle in a breeze, some textured with a strange feel to the touch, a particular range of colours plus the sound of trickling water from the new waterfall feature all combine to appeal to the senses.

Beverley Coronation Sensory Garden is well used especially in the Summer
Beverley Coronation Sensory Garden is well used in the Summer

The garden is very popular and is well used, especially in the summer months and it is always well  maintained by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Field of Hope & Sensory and Coronation Garden, Beverley, East Yorkshire. Seating, many wooden bench seats in sunshine or shade.

There are many seats available in the sensory garden, all in good condition and usually clean. Sit in the sunshine, in shade under a tree, in relative privacy in a Bower or under a Pergola or sit on the wall around the gentle trickling waterfall.

Plaque: Centennial Field of Hope by Children of St Mary's Primary School, planted 22nd October 2003 and members of the Beverley support group for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

In 2003 a portion of the garden was designed and planted as a Field of Hope by the children of St Mary’s Primary School and members of The Beverley Support Group for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Grave Headstones were moved to the sides of the burial ground to create the Coronation Garden

When the old St Mary’s Graveyard was restructured as the Coronation Garden, the Headstones were moved to the sides of the area, allowing for easier grass mowing and no restrictions on the layout of pathways, borders, beds and shrubberies.

photo: Remains of the old St Mary's burial ground, with many ancient grave markers.

The rear part (western end) of the Coronation Sensory Garden remains a burial ground with all the original undisturbed graves. There are a full range of grave markers, including upright headstones, flat headstones, memorial plaques and kerbed headstones (ledger markers usually covering the whole grave). A few of the pathways between graves are mown grass but generally this graveyard is allowed to return to nature to the benefit of wildlife.

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