Canterbury is home to an enviable list of stories and a world-class literary heritage. Story Gardens will transform unloved areas across the city, creating brand new green spaces that tell the stories of Canterbury’s Tales of England - attracting visitors with a strong narrative and creating places for commemoration and enjoyment.

STORY GARDENS

The Story Garden project is made up of a number of elements, each with the aim of improving biodiversity, sharing our stories, enhancing the enjoyment of, and increasing access to green spaces:

• 24 Story Gardens Various existing and new locations throughout the city.

• Skate Garden A linear skate park set amongst beautiful gardens which tells the story of Canterbury’s industrial heritage (part of the Tannery Recreation Park - Future Tales Project).

• 4 Turret Gardens In the turrets along the new City Wall Park which tell the story of 4 Canterbury firsts such as the story of King’s School - the world’s oldest school.

• Story Garden Trail A trail that incorporates all of the free to enjoy Story Gardens.

• Commemorative Steps On the banks of the City Wall adjoining Dane John Park.

• Reinstatement of the City Wall Moat Creating a green ring around the city and further opportunities for story telling.

STANDALONE STORY GARDENS

A network of new and existing green spaces, each telling one of Canterbury’s key stories and providing a home for commemorative statues, all linked by a Story Garden Trail. All to feature story interpretation and thematic activities for children. Draft locations and stories are listed below.

APHRA GARDEN

Story Aphra Behn was an English playwright, poet, author, and royal spy during the Restoration era. As the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors.

Features Aphra Behn statue, hard and soft landscaping, wall for climbing plants, cherry & apple trees, illumination, seating, interpretation.

Site Context None (high traffic area, creates an urban oasis, inspiring as many as possible).
Location High Street (outside former Nasons department store).
Intervention Required High.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners Canterbury Commemoration Society / A is for Aphra.
Note Site of former St Mary Bredman Church. Currently the space is home to the Royal East Kent Yeomanry Memorial, the memorial could move to join the other Royal East Kent Yeomanry & Buffs Boer War Memorial as part of the new commemorative steps in the Dane John Gardens (it has moved site before).

BECKET GARDEN

Story Thomas Becket, also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket, was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his infamous murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.

Features Becket statue, hard and soft landscaping, illumination, seating, interpretation.

Site Context Located next to St Thomas’ Church - home to Becket relics.
Location St Thomas’ Church Garden.
Intervention Required Low / Medium.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.
Notes Tower of St Mary Magdalene Chapel and facade of St Thomas’ Church should be illuminated.

BLITZ GARDEN (NEW)

Story The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids were a series of attacks by the Luftwaffe on English cathedral cities during World War II. The name derives from the German Baedeker guide books which were used to determine targets for bombing. The raids destroyed one third of medieval Canterbury, and is largely untold.

Features Weathering steel planters/seating, box trees, planting, illumination of clocktower, and interpretation, hard and soft landscaping.

Site Context Area heavily damaged by the Blitz.
Location St George’s Clocktower.
Intervention Required Medium / High.
Site Ownership Canterbury City Council.
Partners CCC St Geroge’s Street project.
Note The site currently has planning permission for the Marlowe Statue, however the site brings to life the devastation of the Blitz like no other (with plenty of photographic records like the one below), encouraging the move of the Marlowe Statue to Solly’s Orchard may be beneficial to the city’s overall interpretation.
Note The Whitefriars advertising screen would need to be removed.

CASTLE GARDEN

Story Canterbury Castle is one of the three original Royal castles of Kent (the other two being Rochester Castle and Dover Castle). They were all built soon after the Battle of Hastings, on the main Roman road from Dover to London. This was the route taken by William the Conqueror in October 1066. Owned by the local authority since 1928.

Features Existing bronze of castle site, trees, planting, events lawn, Canterbury’s Tales of England Timeline, illumination, seating, three phase power.

Site Context Located adjacent to castle.
Location Gas Street.
Intervention Required High.
Site Ownership Canterbury City Council.
Partners TBC.

CHAUCER GARDEN

Story Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet and author. Widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, he is best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry".

Features Link existing Chaucer statue by ‘following Chaucer’s footsteps’ inlaid into paving back to wider interpretation in the Three Cities Garden, Best Lane. Hard & soft landscaping, seating, illumination, interpretation.

Site Context Situated close to Chaucer statue.
Location Three Cities Garden, Best Lane.
Intervention Required Medium.
Site Ownership Benefice of St Dunstan's Church, St Mildred's Church and St Peter's Church.
Partners Canterbury Commemoration Society.

CHILDREN’S GARDEN

Story (4 children’s stories) Rupert Bear is an English children's comic strip character and franchise created by English artist Mary Tourtel and first appearing in the Daily Express newspaper on 8 November 1920.
Bagpuss is a British children's television series, although only 13 episodes were made, it remains fondly remembered, and was frequently repeated in the UK until 1986.
Clangers is a British stop-motion children's television series, made of short films about a family of mouse-like creatures who live on, and inside, a small moon-like planet.
Louis Vorow Zborowski was an English racing driver and automobile engineer, best known for creating a series of aero-engined racing cars known as the "Chitty-Bang-Bangs", which provided the inspiration for Ian Fleming's children's story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Features Four small bronze statues on plinths, trail, games, seating, planting, illumination, hard and soft landscaping.

Site Context Located near to Zborowski workshop.
Location Miller’s Field, The Causeway.
Intervention Required Medium.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.
Notes Repair to iron railings?

City GATES GARDEN (NEW)

Story Canterbury city walls are a sequence of defensive walls built around the city of Canterbury. The first city walls were built by the Romans, probably between 270 and 280 AD. They were slighted by Parliamentary troops during the Civil War era, and came under extensive pressure from urban development during the 18th and 19th centuries. All the gates but one, West Gate, were destroyed and extensive parts of the walled circuit were knocked down to make way for new roads and buildings.

Features Bronze map table of city wall & gates, weathering steel boundary marking the outline of the former St George’s Gate, trees, hard & soft landscaping, illumination, interpretation seating.

Site Context On site of former St Geroge’s Gate turret.
Location End of St George’s Street.
Intervention Required High.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.
Note Forms gateway to new City Wall Park and The Moat. Includes removal of redundant underpass to allow improved pedestrian and cycle flow.

CONRAD GARDEN

Story Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. Though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he came to be regarded a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature.

Features Bronze wall mounted Conrad portrait, Interpretation.

Site Context None.
Location Pound Lane, Butterfly Garden.
Intervention Required Low.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.

CRAB & WINKLE GARDEN (NEW)

Story The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, sometimes referred to colloquially as the "Crab and Winkle Line", was an early British railway that opened in 1830 between Canterbury and Whitstable. It is thought to be the world’s first passenger railway and home to the world’s first season tickets.

Features TBC.

Site Context Located adjacent to Canterbury West.
Location Station Road West (overgrown triangle of land in front of signal box).
Intervention Required High.
Site Ownership Network Rail / CCC.
Partners TBC.
Note Part of the Innovation District project.

CUSHMAN/Mayflower GARDEN

Story Robert Cushman was an important leader and organiser of the Mayflower voyage in 1620, serving as Chief Agent in London for the Leiden Separatist contingent from 1617 to 1620 and later for Plymouth Colony until his death in 1625. He spent some time as a prisoner in the city’s Westgate.

Features Small bronze of Mayflower ship, hard and soft landscaping, illumination, seating, interpretation.

Site Context Cushman was married at St Alphedge.
Location St Alphedge Lane.
Intervention Required Medium.
Site Ownership King’s School.
Partners King’s School.

ETHELBeRt & Bertha GARDEN

Story Æthelberht was King of Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, lists him as the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Married Saint Bertha or Saint Aldeberge (c. 565 – d. in or after 601) the queen of Kent whose influence led to the Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England.

Features Existing Ethelbert & Bertha bronze statues, interpretation, planting.

Location Lady Wootton’s Green.
Intervention Required Low.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners Canterbury Commemoration Society.

FLEMING GARDEN

Story Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British writer, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. He wrote in and died in Canterbury.

Features Ian Fleming statue, illumination, interpretation, James Bond trail.

Site Context None.
Location Castle Street, Garden of St Mary de Castro.
Intervention Required Low / Medium.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.

friars GARDEN

Story Greyfriars in Canterbury was the first Franciscan friary in England. The first Franciscans arrived in the country in 1224.

Features Hard and soft landscaping, illumination, seating, interpretation.

Site Context Located next to Greyfriars.
Location Greyfriars Garden.
Intervention Required Low / Medium.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.

MARLOWE GARDEN

Story Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights.

Features Marlowe statue, circular seating, performance & writing area, hard and soft landscaping, interpretation.

Site Context Located adjacent to the Marlowe Theatre.
Location Solly’s Orchard.
Intervention Required Medium.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners Canterbury Commemoration Society / Canterbury Christopher Marlowe Statue Committee.
Notes The Marlowe Statue is currently proposed for the area next to the Clocktower (where Marlowe was baptised), however it may aid Canterbury’s interpretation if the story of the Blitz is told in that location and the Marlowe Statue is located here where it has space to be enjoyed and encourage creativity.

MARTYRS GARDEN

Story The Canterbury Martyrs were 16th-century English Protestant martyrs. They were executed for heresy in Canterbury, Kent, and were the last protestants burnt during the reign of Mary I.

Features Existing memorial, interpretation, seating, planting.

Site Context Existing Martyrs’ Memorial.
Location Martyrs’ Field Road.
Intervention Required Low.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners Canterbury Commemoration Society.

MILL GARDEN

Story Abbots Mill was for nearly 150 years the second largest Canterbury building by a wide margin. It was designed by John Smeaton (of Eddystone light house fame), built in 1792 at a cost of £8000 and burnt to the ground in a spectacular fire in 1933. The 100 feet high six storey building with octagonal turret replaced an earlier mill known as Brown's mill. Two water wheels, each 16 feet diameter, produced '500 quarters of corn weekly' despite a drop in water level only a little over 5 feet.

Features Water wheel?, interpretation, seating, planting, illumination.

Site Context Adjacent to former mill site.
Location Mill Lane.
Intervention Required Medium.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners Abbot’s Mill Project, Water Wheel TBC.

MONASTERY GARDEN

Story St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent dismantlement until 1848.

Features TBC.

Site Context Adjacent to the Abbey and on main route towards the Abbey to encourage visitors to continue down Pilgrims Mile to the Abbey.
Intervention Required Low.
Location Monastary Street.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners KCC Active Travel Scheme.

PEACE GARDEN

Story The European Peace Pavement was a collaborative project involving ten European countries whose cities were bombed, like Canterbury, during recent wars. Each artist came to Canterbury and carved a York paving stone donated by Canterbury City Council. Installed in Dane John Gardens in 1993 it continues to be a contemporary cultural focus for international visitors to Canterbury. It suffered some vandalism and in 2013 to mark its anniversary it was refurbished and relaunched.

Features Interpretation, minor hard and soft landscaping.

Site Context Existing Peace Garden.
Intervention Required Low.
Location Dane John Gardens.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.

Queen elizabeth GARDEN

Story The large Baobab plane tree in the Westgate Gardens has been chosen as one of 70 ancient trees featuring in an initiative marking Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne. Canterbury’s Baobab trees were planted in the early 1800s by local Victorian botanist and landscape designer William Masters, when seen from above the trees seem to form the shape of a cross covering two and a half miles.

Features Interpretation, hard and soft landscaping, trees, seating.

Site Context Adjacent to Baobab tree.
Location Westgate Gardens.
Intervention Required Low.
Site Ownership CCC.
Partners TBC.
Notes Other POI include Tower House.

REBELS GARDEN

Story In 1647, the new Puritan government tried to cancel Christmas. People in Canterbury protested in a peculiarly English way, with a destructive game of football followed by a mass brawl. The city’s Plum Pudding Riots led to a royalist revolt throughout Kent and the second round of the Civil War.

Features Enhanced football pitch, interpretation, planting, seating.

Site Context None.
Location Westgate Parks, Toddlers Cove.
Intervention Required Medium.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.

ROMAN GARDEN

Story Durovernum Cantiacorum was a town and hillfort (oppidum) in Roman Britain at the site of present-day Canterbury.

Features Hard and soft landscaping, trees, illumination, seating, interpretation.

Site Context Site of exposed Roman wall.
Location St Radigund’s Street.
Intervention Required Medium.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.

st AUGUSTINE GARDEN (NEW)

Story Augustine of Canterbury was a monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church.

Features Hard and soft landscaping, trees, illumination, seating, interpretation.

Site Context Adjacent to St Augustine’s Abbey.
Location Longport.
Intervention Required High.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners KCC Active Travel Project.
Notes Area also forms part of World Heritage Square and garden site will depend on layout / KCC works.

STOUR GARDEN (NEW)

Story The Stour is a chalk river which are rare habitats with only 200 found globally, 85% of these are found in England. Passing through chalk means the water is of good chemical quality and has relatively stable temperatures and is consequently able to support a diverse ecosystem.

Features Punting pontoon, interpretation, hard and soft landscaping, trees, illumination, seating.

Site Context Adjacent to River Stour.
Location Near St Mildred’s Church, Rheims Way.
Intervention Required Medium.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.
Note Site will allow connectivity to St Mildred’s Church and form part of the City Wall Mile, encouraging visitors to explore the neighbouring Westgate Parks.

WORLD HERITAGE GARDEN (NEW)

Story Canterbury is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Canterbury Cathedral, with its stunning mixture of Romanesque and Perpendicular Gothic architecture, the modest Church of St Martin (the oldest church in the English-speaking world) and the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey, once a burial place for the Anglo-Saxon kings of Kent.

Features TBC.

Site Context Located between St Martin’s Church & St Augustine’s Abbey.
Intervention Required High.
Location Canterbury Christ Church University (behind Old Sessions House).
Site Ownership Canterbury Christ Church University.
Partners Canterbury Christ Church University TBC.

TANNERY SKATE GARDEN

One of the largest Story Gardens, providing a home for a new skate park set amongst a beautiful landscaped garden. The Skate Garden will tell the story of Canterbury’s industrial heritage etched onto the concrete ramps of the skate park.

THE TANNERY (NEW)

Story When the St Mildred's Tannery site finally closed in 2002 it marked the end of over 200 years of tanning and leather work in Canterbury. Canterbury leather found its way into Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Daimlers, Ferraris, and Jaguars, not to mention the House of Lords.
Features Concrete linear skate park, planting, seating, illumination.
Location Tannery Field.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.

HugUenot WEAVERS (NEW)

Story Huguenot Weavers were French silk weavers of the Calvinist faith. They came from major silk-weaving cities in southern France, such as Lyon and Tours. They fled from religious persecution, migrating from mainland Europe to Britain around the time of Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685. They settled first in Canterbury; then some 13,050 moved to Spitalfields in London. Their arrival challenged the English weavers of cotton, woollen and worsted cloth, who subsequently learned the Huguenots' superior techniques. The influx of silk weavers greatly influenced the fashion tastes of the upper-class English, who began to incorporate more silk into their attire.
Features Concrete linear skate park, planting, seating, illumination.
Location Tannery Field.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.

BREWING (NEW)

Story Numerous breweries & malt houses.
Features Concrete linear skate park, planting, seating, illumination.
Location Tannery Field.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.

MORE TBC

TURRET GARDENS (CITY WALL PARK)

The turrets of the new City Wall Park will tell the story of a collection of Canterbury firsts. Canterbury lays claim to the world’s oldest school, oldest parish church, England’s oldest brewery (in nearby Faversham) and world’s first passenger railway and season ticket, each explored in a turret.

King’s TURRET GARDEN (NEW)

Story The King’s School is Britain's oldest public school; and is arguably the oldest continuously operating school in the world, since education on the Abbey and Cathedral grounds has been uninterrupted since AD 597.
Features Bronze sculpture on plinth, planting, illumination, interpretation.
Location City wall turret.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners King’s School TBC.

ST MARTIN’S TURRET GARDEN (NEW)

Story The Church of St Martin is an ancient Church of England parish church in Canterbury, England, situated slightly beyond the city centre. It is recognised as the oldest church building in Britain still in use as a church, and the oldest parish church in the English-speaking world.
Features Bronze sculpture on plinth, planting, illumination, interpretation.
Location City wall turret.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners English Heritage TBC.
Note The garden will prompt visits to the World Heritage Site by directing people along City Wall Mile to link up with the Pilgrims Mile to the WHS.

CRAB & WINKLE TURRET GARDEN (NEW)

Story The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, sometimes referred to colloquially as the "Crab and Winkle Line", was an early British railway that opened in 1830 between Canterbury and Whitstable. It is thought to be the world’s first passenger railway and home to the world’s first season tickets.
Features Bronze sculpture on plinth, planting, illumination, interpretation.
Location City wall turret.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners TBC.
Note The garden will prompt visits to the Whitstable Museum to see the Invicta Engine.

SHEpHERD NEAME BREWERY TURRET GARDEN (NEW)

Story Shepherd Neame is Britain's oldest brewer and while 1698 is the Brewery's official founding date, there is clear evidence that its heritage pre-dates even this period.
Features Bronze sculpture on plinth, planting, illumination, interpretation.
Location City wall turret.
Site Ownership TBC.
Partners Shepherd Neame TBC.
Note The garden will prompt visits to the Shepherd Neame brewery in Faversham & Canterbury pubs.

COMMEMORATIVE STEPS

It is proposed that new Commemorative Steps be constructed in the Dane John Gardens to provide seating and a flagpole for commemorative events and special events within the park.

It is proposed that the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles Memorial & Trough (located at Nasons) be sensitively relocated (as it has been before) to the Dane John Gardens adjacent to the Buffs and Royal East Kent Imperial Yeomanry War Memorial, so that they are both close to the Commemorative Steps and associated commemorative events. The memorial then has space to breathe as the original site intended (originally close to the Dane John Gardens at St George’s Gate).

East Kent Mounted Rifles (Yeomanry) War Memorial & Trough
The memorial was unveiled by Lord Harris on October 15th 1922 at its original location near to St George’s Gate (Dane John area). The memorial was later moved to its current position outside the former Nasons department store in c1960. It is Grade II listed. The memorial commemorates the Boer War; Second (1899-1902), and the First World War (1914-1918).

Buffs and Royal East Kent Imperial Yeomanry Boer War Memorial
The memorial was unveiled on 24th May 1904 at its original location in Dane John Gardens. It is Grade II listed. The memorial commemorates the Boer War; Second (1899-1902).

A new home for Aphra Behn
The A is for Aphra campaign in partnership with the Canterbury Commemoration Society is currently seeking a site for their Aphra statue to celebrate England’s first female professional writer. With the REKMR Memorial sensitively relocated to join the other Boer War memorial and Commemorative Steps in the Dane John Gardens, the Nasons garden would make an ideal location for a new Aphra Story Garden to provide a regenerated urban oasis in the centre of the city.

THE MOAT

Before the construction of the ring road, the area in front of the city wall was a beautiful landscaped area, home to various historic objects such as a WW1 tank and the Invicta Steam Engine. Our ambition is to transform the remaining strip of grass into a landscaped area with cycle and pedestrian pathways, increasing biodiversity through new planting and trees, and connecting people with the scale of the city wall. A future ambition would be to reclaim as much of the ring road as possible to create a Green Ring around the city when transport shifts allow.