Duke of Argyll's Monument

The Duke of Argyll's Monument is a monumental column with a statue, dated 1744, designed by Joseph Bower, the estate mason, for the Second Earl of Strafford in memory of the Duke of Argyll. It is constructed from ashlar sandstone and features a fluted Corinthian column set on a pedestal, topped by a female statue. The monument has a moulded base and a square die inscribed with the following text: 'TO THE MEMORY / OF HIS GRACE / JOHN DUKE OF ARGYLL / AND GREENWICH / who died October ye 4th 1743 / This Collumn was Dedicated in / 1744'; it also includes a cornice. The statue represents a woman in flowing robes, originally intended to symbolize Fame, but has been variously described as Victory, Minerva, or, in a previous listing, Britannia.

The monument was commissioned following the marriage of William, the Second Earl of Strafford, to Lady Anne Campbell, the daughter of the Duke of Argyll, and it serves as the tallest of his landscape ornaments.