The Secret Garden
The Theme
The final garden at the Cathedral is simply called ‘The Secret Garden’. It is tucked away behind the Corrin Hall. Entering this world you come into a garden that is planned to take its inspiration from the Zen gardens of Japan that began to appear in the 13th century when gardeners there embraced the currents of Chinese aesthetics of that time. A feeling of control and moderation is sought in them. Here rocks will symbolize mountains rising up from a landscape which represents the Isle of Man and around it will be raked sand, which represents the sea. The garden will be a memorial to all throughout the ages who have met tragic deaths, from slaves carried by Manx ships to the New World in the notorious triangular trade in which Peel was deeply implicated, to those who have died more recently in the Covid pandemic.
You are invited to lay a white pebble in a cairn next to the Ginkgo Biloba tree, representing your own thoughts and prayers around loss. You will find white pebbles along the path for your use.
John Donne (1572-1631), Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London wrote a well-known poem, which might be a point of reflection:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were:
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
Today
The Isle of Man is deeply interconnected with the global community with all its joys as well as its struggles.
We hope you have enjoyed your visit. These gardens are maintained by the Cathedral without any public funding and we welcome donations enabling them to be maintained for the benefit of all.