Diana Fountain

The Diana Fountain stands in Bushy Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is a group of bronze statues and a water feature set in an eighteenth-century landscape. The fountain sits in the middle of a circular pool forty metres wide, on a tall stone base. Two long straight avenues of trees cross at right angles where the pool lies. Chestnut Avenue runs from Teddington to Hampton Court Palace, while Lime Avenue links the fountain to White Lodge. The fountain was first made in the 1630s for Somerset House and remodelled about 1690. After the Civil War it stood for a time in Hampton Court’s privy garden. In 1713 Sir Christopher Wren placed it at the centre of his grand approach to Hampton Court. The bronze figures have been attributed to Hubert Le Sueur and Francesco Fanelli. The central female figure has been called Diana, Arethusa and Venus over the centuries. Visitors find a wide lawn around the pool with the statues rising from its centre. The tree-lined avenues stretch away on all sides, offering long views through the park. The water once spouted from many jets, though only a few now flow. The site was drained during the Second World War when part of Chestnut Avenue served as a military headquarters. The statues were regilded in 2010, restoring their golden crown.