TR1457 : Canterbury - Simmons memorial silhouette
taken 12 years ago, near to Canterbury, Kent, England
The Simmons Memorial in Dane John park in Canterbury is perched on top of the Dane John mound, originally a Roman burial mound dating from the 1st or 2nd century AD.
The memorial was erected in 1803. It has a plaque on each of the four sides of its base - they read as follows, in chronological order:
1) The mayor and commonalty of this ancient city in consideration of the expensive improvements lately made in this field, unanimously resolved in the year 1802, to appropriate the same in perpetuity to the use of the public, and to endow it with sixty pounds a year for the maintenance and support of the terraces, walks and plantations, payable out of their chamber.
2) This field and hill were improved, and these terraces, walks and plantations, made in the year 1790, for the use of the public at the sole expense of James Simmons, Esq. of this city, Alderman and Banker, to perpetuate the memory of which generous transaction and as a mark of gratitude for his other public services, this pillar was erected by voluntary subscription in the year 1803.
3) At a court of Burchmote, Holden on Tuesday the 26th of April 1825, the mayor and commanalty (sic) of this city unanimously passed a vote of thanks to Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar Bart. in consideration of his having generously presented for the protection of the public, the valuable iron railing placed in stonework upon the terrace, leading over the riding gate, into this field.
4) At a meeting of the town council held at the Guildhall on Wednesday the 2nd day of January 1884, it was unanimously resolved that the generous gift of the iron bridge over Watling Street, leading to this garden, made to the city by their fellow citizen Frederick Flint Esqre. J.P. of Roper House St. Dunstans, be duly acknowledged by being inscribed on this tablet.
Henry Bell Wilson, Mayor.
Rest William Flint, Town Clerk
The Dane John is a park in Canterbury which has been used by the citizens of Canterbury since at least the C12th.
Dane John is a corruption of the Norman French word "donjon" meaning the motte or central tower of a castle - the same word that also became "dungeon" in English. The park is nearby the Norman Canterbury Castle (q.v.)
Alderman Simmons was responsible for laying out the park in its present form in 1790 - as the plaque on the memorial states:
"This field and hill were improved and these terraces, walks and plantations, made in the year 1790 for the use of the public, at the sole expense of James Simmons, Esq. of this city, Alderman and Banker"
Sitting just inside the city walls in Dane John gardens, a conical mound, rising 80 feet, which historical records date back to at least the 1st century AD.
Visitors can take a spiral path to the top where there is a monument, dated 1803, to Alderman Simmons, who paid for much of the landscaping in the gardens.