Gillingham War Memorial

The Gillingham War Memorial, also referred to as the Black Lion Memorial and the Medway Park War Memorial, is a Grade II listed war memorial situated at the junction of Mill Road and Brompton Road in Gillingham, Kent, England. It commemorates the men and women of the former Borough of Gillingham who gave their lives in the First World War, and was later updated to honour those who died in the Second World War and the Korean War. Prominently located near the entrance to Medway Park, the memorial remains a focal point for remembrance in the Medway towns. Unveiled on 20 July 1924 by Alderman W.H. Griffin JP, with a dedication by the Right Reverend Harmer, Bishop of Rochester, the memorial originally stood at the centre of a road junction where High Street, Mill Road, Brompton Road, and Marlborough Road met. In this original location, it occupied a small gated garden surrounded by four entrances, creating an enclosed and ceremonial space at the heart of what was then known as Mill Road Junction. At the time, the surrounding area included Black Lion Field, an open space that had not yet been developed into the sports complex known today as Medway Park. The memorial itself is a tall, tapering stone pylon, designed by sculptor Francis William Doyle-Jones, who was renowned for his public monuments and commemorative work. The pylon stands on a two-stage pedestal with a two-stepped base and features sculptural roundels on its faces. By the 1960s, although the memorial still stood at the junction, growing traffic and changes to urban planning made its location less suitable. The junction remained active, and the enclosed garden around the memorial was still present. However, as road layouts and the surrounding infrastructure evolved, the decision was made in the early 1970s to relocate the memorial across the road to its present site near the entrance of the soon-to-be-built Black Lion Leisure Centre (later renamed Medway Park). This move was intended to improve both public…