Stone Garden Shelter at High Elms Country Park

Stone Garden Shelter at High Elms Country Park

A garden shelter built in 1913 as a 79th birthday gift to John Lubbock, Lord Avebury, from his wife Lady Avebury.

The shelter is constructed into the centre of a low stone garden wall situated to the south west of the mansion, facing south west. It is a rectangular structure built of snecked stone rubble with a slate roof, though the slates were largely missing at the time of inspection. The structure features a curved pediment which originally had a large clock fixed to it. Behind the pediment is a cambered stone arch flanked by moulded stone lintels, opening onto an alcove designed to contain a seat. Iron railings were added later in the 20th century. On the rear wall, fixed above the seat, is an inscription in a stone panel that reads:

"30 APRIL 1913

A BIRTHDAY GIFT TO GREET HIM WHEN HE CAME HOME FROM THE WEARY TOWN. FOUR SCORE SAVE ONE HE HEARD AND SMILED HIS THANKS, BUT AH! THE FLAME OF LIFE BURNED LOW; SOON WERE WE LEFT ALONE YET LOVE SURVIVES, AND WHILE THIS CLOCK DOTH CHIME IT TELLS OF LOVE OUTLASTING MEASURED TIME."

The High Elms estate belonged to the Lubbock family from 1809 to 1938. John Lubbock (1834–1913) inherited the estate in 1865 and was created Lord Avebury in 1900. He was a naturalist introduced into Darwin's inner circle and a member of the Royal Institution, the Geological Society and the Royal Society. He served as a Liberal MP for Maidstone between 1870 and 1880, and represented London University between 1880 and 1900. He championed early closing bills in the 1870s, drafted the Bank Holiday Bill of 1871 (the first secular holiday in British history, popularly known as "St. Lubbock's Day"), and secured the preservation of Ancient Monuments through legislation in 1873. He advocated voting reform and was one of the founders of the Proportional Representation Society in 1884. He took his peerage title from Avebury, the ancient druidical site he had long fought to save from destruction. Lord Avebury died four weeks after his birthday, and the inscription on the shelter serves as his memorial.