Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Private zoo created by Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake in the grounds of his house, Cobtree Manor, just outside of Maidstone. The zoo opened in March 1934 and closed in 1959. Little remains of the zoo apart from the old Elephant House and a pony shelter now converted into a picnic area.

Monument Types

• ZOO (Modern - 1934 AD to 1959 AD)

Full description

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Private zoo created by Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, many times Mayor of Maidstone and long-time collector of animals, in the grounds of his house Cobtree Manor just outside of Maidstone. The zoo opened on 29th March 1934 and closed 4th October 1959. At its height of popularity it covered over 12 acres and had 130 enclosures and cages. Between 1934 and 1945 one and a half million people visited the Zoo. Little remains of the zoo now apart from the old Elephant House and a pony shelter now converted into a picnic area. A wood in the grounds of Cobtree Manor, which passed into KCC ownership, is still called wolf wood which had been set up as an enclosed area for the zoo's wolves.(1)

Brief description of site
Cobtree Manor Park is a late-20th-century park which was given to the people of Maidstone for recreational activities, predominantly golf. The site also includes the Museum of Kent Life, the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation, a nature trail and arboretum.

Brief history of site
Cobtree Manor Park was the bequest of the late Sir Garrard and Lady Tyrwhitt-Drake ‘for the benefit of the inhabitants of Maidstone and other members of the general public’.

Parks and Gardens Data Services Limited (PGDS), 2005, Parks and Gardens UK (www.parksandgardens.org) (Website). SKE16061.

<1> Vickie Harris, 1994, The Story of Maidstone Zoo, Vickie Harris (Monograph). SKE7663.

Sources and further reading