Royal Avenue Gardens

Royal Avenue Gardens, together with the harbour, quay and the best group of seventeenth century buildings in Devon, produce a most picturesque townscape. Traditionally, the park plays an important part in the Dartmouth Regatta celebrations.The garden’s historic features include a cast iron bandstand, a triple-tier stone fountain built in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, war memorials and statuary, with pleasantly planted shrubs and floral displays, while trees provide shade for the weary visitor. In 1963, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth locally of Thomas Newcomen, a surviving example of his atmospheric steam engine was erected where visitors could see it working, and a plaque was provided in the gardens.  In the early 1990’s South Hams District Council carried out a comprehensive paving scheme to enhance the setting of the bandstand and fountain, at a cost of  £110,000, providing an improved axial link  to the nearby Butterwalk.

S Pugsley: Devon Gardens – An Historical Survey, 1994: 165-6