The Gardens were formally opened in the summer of 1836 when over 12,000 people visited over four days. Admission was then limited to shareholders and subscribers except for Gala Days, when the general public was allowed entry. Adults were charged one shilling and children 6d. The Sheffield Iris of 5th July 1836 reported:

The walks assume all the intricacy and mystery of a labyrinthine maze, while the monkey cages, the bear’s den, the eagles’ habitation, water-works &c. give a variety and effect to the whole, calculated to interest the visitor for hours together.

Marnock left the Gardens at the end of 1839 to set up a nursery in Hackney, London. However on the advice of John Claudius Loudon, Marnock was appointed curator of the Royal Botanic Society’s garden in Regent’s Park, a position he held until his resignation in 1863.

In 1898, the Sheffield Town Trust became the owners of the Gardens and opened them to the public free of charge. [The Trust was created in 1297 and is one of the oldest charities in the UK.] And in 1951, the Trust leased the Management of the gardens to the Sheffield Corporation.

During the 1980s, funding cuts and an increase in vandalism resulted in the gardens becoming neglected and the pavilions boarded up. But in 1984, the The Friends of the Botanical Gardens was established and twelve years later, the Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust was created. Together with the Sheffield Town Trust, Sheffield City Council and Sheffield University, they successfully applied for a grant to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

SOME FEATURES IN THE GARDEN:

In 1929, the Italianate Flower Garden was redesigned as a Rock Garden by Clarence Elliott, founder of the Alpine Garden Society.

The Rose Garden was redesigned in 2006 based on the philosophy of John Law, curator of the gardens in the 1840s. The oldest varieties of roses are at the centre, radiating out to modern ones around the outside. At the centre is a statue of Pan, aka Spirit of the Woods, which was donated to the Gardens by Colonel Sir Charles Clifford, owner of the Sheffield Telegraph and Star. It was cast in bronze by Cashmore & Co of London although the sculptor is not known. Similar to the statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Pan is surrounded by birds and animals.

The glass pavilions by Benjamin Broomhead Taylor were restored and reopened to the public in 2003.

The Bear Pit originally housed a black bear with monkeys, a deer, a fox, parrots and a pair of eagles caged in other parts of the garden. However the attempt to combine animals with botanical exhibits was ended in 1839 as according to Loudon: ‘The filth, stench, roaring, howling and other annoyances incident to carnivorous animals, are altogether inconsistent with the repose which is essential to a botanic garden’.