The original description of St. Peter's Fields would be the collection of fields surrounding the outskirts of Manchester. The addition of "St. Peter" to the title of this area would be added with the building of St. Peter's church in 1788. This area throughout history has remained the setting of many influential and memorable events. The first being on August 16, 1819 when Henry Hunt addressed 60,000 people in the audience demanding for radical reform in the House of Commons. This large collection of people rang alarmist bells in the heads of the City Magistrates, and they called in troops in order to disperse the crowd. As a result, 18 people were killed and 700 more injured. This incident and the tragedies along with it are remembered as the "Peterloo Massacre" (Manchester City Council 1). 

And it was by the end of the 19th century that this area served more of economic than religious purpose. In fact, the church that had given these fields their title was demolished in 1907 due to a decline in population from the surrounding areas (Manchester History). The next construction on the land would be undertaken by Sir Edward Lutyens in 1924 with the building of an enclosed garden in order to recognize the fallen soldiers of World War I (Manchester City Council 1).