Milton Keynes Rose

Introduction

A civic monument of granite pillars forming a living calendar in Campbell Park, the Milton Keynes Rose invites reflection, gathering, and remembrance throughout the year.

Set in the heart of Campbell Park, the Milton Keynes Rose is one of the city’s most powerful and poetic public spaces. With its bold circular form, array of granite pillars, and open design, the Rose functions as both a civic monument and a living calendar – a place where reflection, celebration, protest, and play are welcomed in equal measure.

More than just a site of remembrance, the Rose invites residents and visitors alike to engage with the passing of time, the diversity of the city, and the values of shared public life. It is used throughout the year for formal commemorations such as Holocaust Memorial Day and Armistice Day, for playful traditions like National Skipping Day and the Olney Pancake Race, and for quiet personal moments of pause, connection, or solitude.

At once deeply symbolic and widely accessible, the Rose exemplifies how public art can be fully integrated into the civic, emotional, and cultural landscape of a city.

Development

At the entrance to Campbell Park is a flower bed planted with box hedging and bedding plants in the form of a compass rose. Beyond is, the park as brought to life by Helmut Jacoby’s 1976 drawing (above), what would be a tree and bench lined oasis which was to become a large round pond with a central fountain.

When the pond proved difficult to maintain, as budgets tightened and health and safety concerns increased, it presented an opportunity to create a new civic space.

The idea for the Milton Keynes Rose emerged in the early 2000s through community-led discussions about the need for a universal public space for remembrance and celebration. From the beginning, the vision was inclusive: a monument that would serve not just one group or tradition, but all people and all moments of meaning.

Unveiled in 2013 after years of development, the Rose was created through collaboration between many partners, including Milton Keynes City Council, The Parks Trust, the Milton Keynes Rose Trust, the Cenotaph Trust, and numerous local individuals, artists, and community groups. It was designed by renowned artist Gordon Young, working with landscape architects and engineers to realise a space that would feel both ancient and modern, sacred and open.

Inspired by stone circles, sacred geometry, and the spiral forms of nature, the layout of the Rose reflects a sense of timelessness and unity. At its centre sits a gently domed granite “belly button” – carved from a single block of stone – inviting touch and presence. Around it are arranged 106 granite pillars, many engraved with dates of shared importance. The circle is open, without steps or thresholds, allowing entry and movement from all sides.

The Pillars and The Calendar

The inscribed pillars represent a wide variety of dates – from local anniversaries and historical events to global commemorations and cultural festivals. Some reflect solemn remembrance; others are playful, celebratory or forward-looking. Examples include Windrush Day, Eid al-Fitr, the founding of Milton Keynes, Skipping Day, and the memory of Albert French, a local boy killed in the First World War.

Crucially, more than a third of the pillars remain uninscribed – reserved for future dates nominated by the public and selected by a community panel. This allows the Rose to grow with the city and remain responsive to its people’s evolving values, histories, and concerns.

A panel of trustees, made up of representatives from various local community interests, review proposals for new pillars while every year the existing pillars become the focal point of various celebrations, commemorations, and contemplations.

Milton Keynes Rose also contains a plaque that commemorates the influence and achievement of Jock Campbell. Lord Campbell, chairman of the MKDC from 1967 to 1983, officially opened the park that bears his name on 4 May 1984. The inscription “Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice”, translates from the Latin as “If you seek his monument, look around”, and can also be found on Christopher Wren’s tomb in St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Contemporary Use

Since its unveiling in 2013, the Milton Keynes Rose has become a vital civic space – one that holds collective memory while remaining grounded in daily life. It is used year-round for formal events, cultural gatherings, community-led initiatives and personal acts of reflection.

Key civic occasions are now regularly anchored at the Rose. These include Holocaust Memorial Day, Armistice Day, Windrush Day and Disability Awareness Day – as well as spontaneous vigils following national and global events. Local schools, community groups and families also gather here for ceremonies, seasonal traditions, and storytelling walks. At other times, the Rose is quiet and contemplative – a space for solitary thought, unplanned conversation, or simply sitting in the sun.

The Rose continues to grow. Since 2013, a number of new pillars have been added following community nominations and panel review. Each new inscription reflects evolving values, untold histories, and emerging commemorative needs. Pillars recognising the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental awareness and lesser-known local histories have been added in recent years.

More pillars are expected to be added in the future – preserving the Rose as a dynamic, responsive site that keeps pace with Milton Keynes as it changes and matures.

10th Anniversary Project

To mark a decade since its unveiling, the Milton Keynes Rose was the focus of a major arts and research commission during 2023–24. Led by artist and producer Jakub Rokita, the anniversary project brought together archival research, community memories, creative documentation and new public programming.

Outcomes of the project included:

• A richly illustrated anniversary publication, combining personal reflections, historical context and newly commissioned writing
• A poetic audiowalk, mixing narration, original sound design and recorded community voices, designed to be experienced on site or remotely
• A read-along digital edition, merging transcript, visuals and excerpts from the Rose’s history
• A pop-up exhibition hosted first at MK Gallery and later extended by Milton Keynes Central Library
• A growing collection of material donated to Living Archive MK, preserving the Rose’s evolving story for future generations

Together, these outputs form a layered portrait of the Rose as more than stone and inscription – as a space shaped by its users, continually reinterpreted by those who pass through it.

“This is not a monument for the past. It is a space for presence. For the everyday and the extraordinary.”

Visting the Rose

The Milton Keynes Rose is free to visit and open at all hours. It is located at the southern end of Campbell Park, a short walk from the city centre and Theatre District. Events are held throughout the year, but visitors are just as likely to encounter the Rose in its quietest moments – a child tracing letters on a pillar, a candle left at dusk, a couple pausing to talk in its circular rhythm.

You can walk through the Rose on your own, or experience it alongside the audiowalk and read-along available online.

More information on the Milton Keynes Rose and its Pillars can be found on its website:
Milton Keynes Rose