Montreal Park obelisk

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1005157
Date first listed:: 26-Jul-1950

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1005157
Date first listed:: 26-Jul-1950

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Kent
District:: Sevenoaks (District Authority)
Parish:: Riverhead
National Grid Reference:: TQ 51201 55062

Summary

Obelisk in Montreal Park, 509m south-east of Little Amhurst.

Reasons for Designation

A commemorative monument is a building or structure erected to commemorate a particular person or event. They include public statues and memorials, funerary monuments in churchyards and cemeteries, and war memorials, some of which are among our finest examples of public art.

Despite some restoration in the past, the obelisk in Montreal Park 509m south-east of Little Amhurst is an imposing commemorative monument, which survives well. It includes some well preserved 18th century masonry work and an inscription commemorating a major international conflict.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 18 December 2014. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a mid 18th century commemorative monument situated on a spur of ground south-west of Mornington Crescent on the western edge of Sevenoaks.

The obelisk is built of Kentish ragstone and is set on a stone plinth with a cornice, affixed to which are four marble tablets bearing an inscription. The plinth stands on a raised platform or base of stone rubble.

The obelisk was erected in about 1764 by Lord Jeffrey Amherst. Amherst was Major-General and Commander-in-Chief of the British expedition charged with engaging French armies in North America. His successes in the conflict, known as the Seven Years War, are recorded on the monument. The obelisk commemorates the reunion and safe return of Jeffrey and his two brothers from the war on 25th January 1761. It was set up within Montreal Park, the name Amherst gave to his estate in celebration of the capture of Montreal on 8th September 1760.

The inscription on the marble panels reads:

‘Dedicated to that most able Statesman during whose administration Cape Breton and Canada were conquered and from whose influence the British Arms derived a Degree of Lustre unparallel'd in past Ages.

Fort Levi surrendered 25th August, 1760. Isle of Noix abandoned 28th August, 1760. Montreal surrendered and with it all Canada and 10 French Battalians lay'd down their arms 8th September, 1760. St. John's, Newfoundland re-taken 18th September, 1762.

Louisburg surrendered and six French Battalions prisoners of War, 26th July, 1758. Fort du Quesne taken possession of 24th November, 1758. Niagara surrendered 25th July, 1759. Crown Point taken possession of 4th August, 1759. Quebec capitulated 18th September, 1759

To commemorate the providential and happy meeting of three Brothers on this, their Paternal Ground on the 25th January, 1764 after a six years glorious War in which the three were successfully engaged in various Climes, Seasons and Services.’

The obelisk is Grade II listed.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 30 November 2016.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: KE 81
Legacy System:: RSM - OCN

Sources

Websites
Montreal Park History, Montreal Park Residents' Association, accessed 18 Feb 2010 from http://www.montrealpark.org.uk/
War Memorial Register, accessed 30/11/2016 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/54528
War Memorials Online, accessed 30/11/2016 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/71068
Other
Kent HER TQ 55 NW40. NMR TQ 55 NW40. PastScape 409697. LBS 469248.

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.