A 21st century Renaissance garden at Liverpool Hope University’s Creative Campus
The Garden
At the heart of the campus is Angel Field, a magnificent 21st century Renaissance garden, planted in order to provide a place of beauty and serenity for contemplation and study.
The final piece in the redevelopment of the campus, its fountains, performance amphitheatre, angel statue and beautiful, quiet reflective spaces are an oasis in the heart of the city.
The garden is named after the Angel Field farm which once occupied the site and was run by Jesuit priests from St Francis Xavier’s church. (Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins was once a curate at SFX.)
The garden is the idea of the University’s Vice-Chancellor & Rector, Professor Gerald Pillay, who envisaged in his original document of 2006:
“…a renaissance-type garden with clipped hedges, buxus and yew.
“With the backdrop of the old church and the façade of the collegiate across the road, the cloister should be a safe place of serenity and beauty, inviting to students, staff and visitors.
“The garden should be designed to create easy movement to and from the two academic buildings with opportunities to sit or stop along the way.”
That vision has been realised in beautiful and spectacular fashion. A walk from the Capstone to the Cornerstone reveals contrasting areas populated by a series of stimulating quotations.
Origins is a belt of mature woodland with a circular pool and the words of St Thomas Aquinas: “Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses.’’
The Body is an apple orchard set in a wild flower meadow. On scattered stones are the words of Pied Beauty, by local poet-priest Gerard Manley Hopkins.
The Mind features a performance area surrounded by hedges, pom-pom pines and a pool surrounded by Shakespeare’s immortal line: “All the world’s a stage/And all the men and women merely players.”
The Soul is a cloister adjacent to The Cornerstone building. An angel stands guard and, below, a quote from the book of Daniel: “He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.”
With the garden, the University has set a public place of beauty into one of the poorest wards in the country. We hope it will start a regeneration of the spirit, as well as the fabric of the area.
The Party
The University staged a party and concert to mark the grand opening of Angel Field Garden on Midsummer’s evening, Monday 21st June.
The event also saw the University’s music department formally recognised as an official “All-Steinway School”, making Hope only the second UK University to hold this prestigious title.
Angel Field 
At the heart of the campus is Angel Field, a magnificent 21st century Renaissance garden, planted in order to provide a place of beauty and serenity for contemplation and study. 
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