The Diana Fountain is a bronze statue of goddess on a marble and stone fountain, surrounded by bronzes of four boys, four water nymphs and four shells. It is located at the centre of a round basin at the junction of Chestnut and Lime Avenues.
The history of the Diana Fountain
Designed in 1637 by Hubert Le Sueur at the request of King Charles I for his wife Henrietta Maria, this bronze statue of a goddess (sometimes described as Arethusa) is set on a marble and stone fountain, surrounded by bronzes of four boys, four water nymphs and four shells. Le Sueur submitted an invoice for £200 for the statue.
The fountain was moved to the Privy Garden of Hampton Court in 1656. In 1713 the fountain and statue were moved to Bushy Park to the middle of Chestnut Avenue, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, where it still stands today.
The fountain was restored in 2009 as part of the Bushy Park Restoration Project. The exact weight and height of the statue (2.38m tall and 924kg) were confirmed for the first time when it was moved for restoration. During restoration, a stone was uncovered on the base of the statue for the first time. It had a crown and the date AR 1712 (AR for Anne Regis) and would have been added when the fountain and statue were installed in the basin.
