New Shrewsbury Remembrance Park name revealed
The proposed new Remembrance Park at Bowbrook in Shrewsbury – due to open in early 2014 – is set to be known as Mytton Oak Remembrance Park, following a public consultation in which people were invited to suggest a name.
The choice of name was chosen as it recognises the location of the new park just off Mytton Oak Road, which took its name, in 1934, from the fact that land in the area once belonged to the Mytton family.
To recognise the origins of the Remembrance Park’s chosen name, Shropshire Council plans to plant at the site an oak tree which descends from the Shelton Oak – a tree which for more than 600 years stood close to the remembrance park site on the land once owned by the Mytton family – and from which the name Mytton Oak is thought to originate.
Once opened the new Remembrance Park will serve for next 100 years once Emstrey cemetery closes to new burials in around two years’ time. It will also provide an opportunity for woodland burials, and include areas for quiet reflection.
More than 30 name suggestions were put forward for consideration by members of the public and council staff and, of these, Mytton Oak Remembrance Park was the unanimous choice of Shropshire Council officers and councillors working on the project.
A planning application for the Mytton Oak Remembrance Park is due to be submitted in December 2012, and it is hoped planning permission will be granted in early 2013. Construction work would then begin in spring 2013, with the Remembrance Park scheduled to open in spring 2014.
Mike Owen, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for bereavement services, said:
“I’d like to thank all the people who suggested a name for the new Remembrance Park, and all those who took the time to view the plans at our public consultation events and on the council website.
“We believe Mytton Oak is a very fitting name for the new Remembrance Park, recognising the location of the site, but also providing a chance to recognise and mark the history of the name.
“It’s fascinating that, with help from Shropshire Archives, we have been able to trace the history of the Shelton Oak, which we believe is the origin of the Mytton Oak name. By planting an oak at the new Remembrance Park that is a historical descendant of the original Shelton Oak, we’ll be able to continue a historic link that goes back more than 600 years and hopefully continue this link for hundreds of years to come.”
The site for the new Remembrance Park is currently a greenfield site close to Mytton Oak Road and near to the Bowbrook allotments.
It is estimated that developing the new site would cost £1.1million.
