DETAILS of a plan to revamp the historic St Andrew’s Gardens in Rugby town centre have been unveiled.
Rugby Borough Council (RBC) has drawn up a draft masterplan for the Church Street gardens, also known as Holy Trinity Churchyard, and now wants to hear residents’ views.
The draft plan includes extensive landscaping of the gardens, removing dense shrubbery and replacing it with seasonal and woodland bulbs, meadow grass and flowering lawns.
Other ideas on the drawing board include relocating the closed churchyard’s remaining gravestones and setting the stones flat in the ground, with information boards detailing the history of the memorials, and the creation of a small Japanese rock garden to complement the tree planted in memory of the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
St Andrew’s Gardens were created in the grounds of the former Holy Trinity Church, which opened in 1854 as a chapel-of-ease of the nearby St Andrews Church.
The church closed in 1974 and was controversially demolished in 1983, with the site being used for retirement flats. Only the church’s gate survives, dedicated to members of the congregation who were victims of the First World War.
The remaining churchyard still has a connection to St Andrews as John Moultrie, late Rector of the church and of Rugby, is buried there.
The council took over responsibility for maintenance of the gardens in 1975.
RBC environment and public realm spokeswoman Coun Lisa Parker said: “We want to make St Andrew’s Gardens a welcoming space where residents can relax in quiet surroundings away from the hustle and bustle of the town centre.
“The draft masterplan seeks to create such an environment while remaining respectful of the site’s history as a churchyard, but we want to hear the views of residents to make the gardens a place everyone can enjoy.”
Visit www.rugby.gov.uk/saintandrew to see the masterplan and take part in the consultation, which closes at 5pm on Friday April 26.
