Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Victoria Gardens is a public park laid out in 1897 by Chatham Town Council, on land formerly owned by the Ordnance Department, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria with early C20 alterations and additions. It comprises amenity grassland, late C19 and C20 ornamental trees, pathways and various structures, some dating to the park’s original construction. The grounds were formally opened on 15th September 1897 by the Mayoress Mrs H T Brown and dedicated to the public. In 1996, the original bandstand was renovated at the cost of £50k (including a new roof, ceiling, lighting and a stone inscription and crest inserted into the brickwork surround).The Gardens are currently owned and managed by Medway Council. The site has a celtic cross World War I memorial, which is the focus for the annual Remeberence Day parade and service.

Along with Fort Pitt Gardens and Jackson Recreation Ground (qv) immediately adjacent to the west, the park occupies land formerly part of the nearby early C19 Fort Pitt.

Monument Types

• PUBLIC PARK (Post Medieval to Modern - 1897 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Land was leased from the War Department in 1897 for a public garden to celebrate the Diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. Victoria Gardens provided much needed recreational space for the populous town of Chatham, where there were both naval dockyard and barracks.

From the level brow of Fort Pitt Hill, this large tract of amenity grassland slopes to the north¬west, overlooking Chatham Reach and the town centre. There are wide paths lined by chestnuts and limes, replenished recently with deciduous and flowering trees. The attractive Victorian bandstand has a central position near the war memorial - a stone Celtic cross.
(1)

In 2014, the Kent Gardens Trust performed a review of historical information relating to Victoria Gardens, Chatham.

Taken from the review:
"STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Victoria Gardens, Jackson’s Recreation Ground and Fort Pitt Gardens form an interconnected group of 3 late C19 to mid C20 public gardens and parks in which remnants of their original design survive. All 3 are laid out over the redundant, surviving remnant earthworks surrounding the former C19 Fort Pitt, their landforms reflecting the underlying topography of the earthworks. The sites thus have archaeological potential; they are also a repository for both local and national collective memories of Chatham’s vital role in the defence of the United Kingdom from the C18 to the end of World War II. The sites represent Rochester and Chatham’s response in the C19 and early C20 to providing open space for the health and wellbeing of the inhabitants plus local acts of philanthropy: Victoria Gardens commemorates Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 while the land for Jackson’s Recreation Ground was donated by the Mayor of Rochester, John Howard Jackson, in 1914. All three sites contribute to the scenic quality of the wider area through the panoramic views they offer over the towns, the River Medway and beyond and in views from the historic New Road, the main route between Rochester and Chatham since 1783.

SUMMARY OF THE HISTORIC INTEREST
A public park laid out in 1897 by Chatham Town Council, on land formerly owned by the Ordnance Department, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria with early C20 alterations and additions. It comprises amenity grassland, late C19 and C20 ornamental trees, pathways and various structures, some dating to the park’s original construction. Along with Fort Pitt Gardens and Jackson Recreation Ground (qv) immediately adjacent to the west, the park occupies land formerly part of the nearby early C19 Fort Pitt...Any remains of the original Fort occupy areas outside the present boundary of the Gardens.

...In 1875 the grounds to the east of the Fort were leased on an annual tenancy to Chatham Town Council and stayed as rough ground until 1897. In March 1897 a decision was taken by Chatham Town Council to formalise use of the ground into Victorian Pleasure Grounds in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The works cost £1,420, with the Corporation borrowing £1,400 in 1898 to cover the expenses. This sum was repaid over a period of 22 years. The grounds were formally opened on 15th September 1897 by the Mayoress Mrs H T Brown and dedicated to the public.

...The grounds were laid out with 4m (12 ft.) wide formal ‘cement’ paths, a bandstand (with gas lighting ), wrought-iron seats in positions where the best views could be obtained, flower beds including shrubs donated as gifts by prominent townspeople and a 5’ 6” unclimbable wrought-iron fence replacing earlier wooden hurdle boundary fencing (Chatham Observer712.5 26th June 1897). The bandstand was very well used with a weekly summer programme; within a wooden hurdle fence around the bandstand seating was provided for a penny per person and, beyond, a gently sloping grass area was used by many other visitors for free...Later additions comprise a flagpole c1905 (contemporary photograph) and nearby a quick-firing gun taken in the Boer War. A photograph from 1965 shows the pole and the bandstand with its original railings and some stone plant containers around its base. At least two buildings with seating were added c1907 (still evident in a photograph from c1970) and a war memorial in Ionian stone commemorating both world wars was unveiled in November 1921 (Couchman Collection DE402/17/30).

Early C20 photographs show ornate railings supported on a brick wall to the northern boundary with New Road Avenue and similar railings along the southern boundary of Fort Pitt Hill road (Couchman Collection DE402/17/3 and 32L). All fencing has been removed with the exception of the remains of the posts in the supporting wall along New Road Avenue.
...In 1996 in an attempt to attract bands back, the bandstand was renovated at the cost of £50k (including a new roof, ceiling, lighting and a stone inscription and crest inserted into the brickwork surround).The Gardens are currently owned and managed by Medway Council. In 2013 the Council carried out an audit of both Victoria Gardens and Jacksons Recreation following an amassed developer contribution of £160,000 to improve recreation facilities at both sites. In response to this audit a report detailing potential future investment opportunities was produced. This has been discussed with Heritage Lottery Fund with a view to potential submission of a Parks for People funding programme application…Victoria Gardens, along with Fort Pitt Gardens and Jackson Recreation Ground, form an almost continuous area of public parkland. Victoria Gardens occupies an area of approximately 2.5 hectares.

...One of the two original 1897 main entrances is in the northeast corner of the gardens, from New Road Avenue, where one gate post remains on the south side of the entrance. The path from this entrance rises up the slope and is flanked by a low brick wall with a concrete coping and metal handrail on the south side suggesting that it survives from the original 1897 construction. Its early C20 flanking hedges are now (2013) gone… A further entrance occurs on Fort Pitt Hill road, opposite the University, which is marked by two brick pillars flanking the path, these originally supporting gates. This entrance was created when the Gardens were extended westwards sometime between 1923 and 1929.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS: The Gardens’ layout comprises a system of wide informal paths with a centrally- located bandstand, all surviving from the original 1897 construction (3rdedition OS map (1907- 1923) and a Celtic cross war memorial dedicated in 1923.The site is predominantly amenity grassland with mixed native and ornamental trees which line the perimeter paths. The older species (as recorded on the 3rd edition OS) include copper beech, oak, London plane, common lime, holly and horse chestnut. New planting of single ornamental trees are scattered around the Gardens.

...The only evidence of the original formal flower beds survives on the north-eastern boundary, behind a short section of late C20 railings which has been erected where the land slopes steeply to the main road. Photographs from the early C20 show bedding and shrub displays alongside the southern boundary fence (Couchman Collection DE402/17/3) and further formal beds and areas of shrubs scattered more generally around the Gardens, all now (2013) gone (Couchman Collection DE402/17/27L,27U,29L &29U).

...The WWI Celtic cross war memorial, standing 25 m from the lower path on the northern boundary and 70m west of the lower entrance access steps adjacent to New Road, is the focus for the annual Remembrance Day parade and service. A siren post, adjacent to the lower path and 50m from the entrance path on the western boundary, dating from WWII survives. In 1999 a contemporary wooden sculpture known locally as ‘MacDonald’s Arches’ by Anthony Holloway was installed at the top of the hill, 20m north of the upper entrance which is 110m from the south west corner of the gardens. More recent additions include two CCTV posts. The Flag-pole and Boer war gun have not survived and it is not known if and where they were re-located to." (2)

<1> Parks and Gardens Data Services Limited (PGDS), 2005, Parks and Gardens UK (www.parksandgardens.org) (Website). SKE16061.

<2> Kent Gardens Trust, 2014, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Medway: Victoria Gardens, Chatham (Unpublished document). SKE31421.

Sources and further reading