Virginia Quay Settlers Monument

A free-standing stone and bronze monument of 1951, incorporating a bronze plaque of 1928 and with later sculptural additions of 1999 by Wendy Taylor CBE, commemorating the departure of settlers for Jamestown, Virginia (USA).

MATERIALS: bronze, rough-hewn and polished granite.

DESCRIPTION: the monument stands on the north bank of the River Thames facing S. The sculpture is a larger than life representation of an astrolabe cast in bronze. This surmounts a rough-hewn granite simulation of a rocky promontory, which also supports a bronze plaque of 1928, which is offset to the W. The plaque has the embossed lettering: FROM NEAR THIS SPOT/DECEMBER 19 1606/SAILED WITH "105 ADVENTURERS"/THE "SUSAN CONSTANT" 100 TONS/CAPT CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT/IN SUPREME COMMAND/THE "GODSPEED" 40 TONS/CAPT BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD/THE "DISCOVERY" 20 TONS/CAPT JOHN RATCLIFFE/LANDED AT CAPE HENRY VIRGINIA/ APRIL 1607/ARRIVED AT JAMESTOWN VIRGINIA/MAY 13 1607/WHERE THESE "ADVENTURERS"/FOUNDED THE FIRST PERMANENT/ENGLISH COLONY IN AMERICA/UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE/INTREPID CAPT JOHN SMITH/EDWARD MARIA WINGFIELD/PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL/THE REVEREND ROBERT HUNT/AND OTHERS/AT JAMESTOWN JULY 30 1619 WAS/CONVENED THE FIRST ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA. The plaque also records that it was erected in 1928, by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, in commemoration of the settlers.

The base of the monument is rectangular and faced in polished granite. On the N and S faces it has the inscription: VIRGINIA QUAY/THE VIRGINIA SETTLERS MEMORIAL TABLET WAS/UNVEILED IN 1928 ON THE WALL/OF BRUNSWICK HOUSE WHICH FORMERLY STOOD/ABOUT 100 YARDS TO THE WEST OF THIS POINT/IN 1999 BARRATT HOMES LIMITED REINSTATED/THIS MONUMENT AND COMMISSIONED THE MARINERS ASTROLABE/BY WENDY TAYLOR C.B.E.'