The Mystery of the Missing Diana the Huntress Statue from Island Gardens

Photo – Metropolitan Archives

Many regular readers will know that Eric Pemberton often send interesting historical mysteries to the website and last week he sent a couple of photographs which feature a statue that used to adorn Island Gardens.

The photographs show the classical style statue which was called Diana the Huntress, this was a familiar subject matter for parks across the UK.

The page from a book  “Greater London by Christopher Trent was published in 1965, so the statue was there in the 1960s. It is in the 1970s that the park was transferred to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and it was around this time that people think the statue disappeared from the gardens.

Over the last 20 years, people have asked what happened to the statue but more recently official requests have been made to the council for more information. These requests have been unsuccessful with the council unable to find any records relating to the statue.

Unfortunately it is not unusual for councils to ‘lose’ works of art in reorganisations or when the responsibility falls on another council.

Many people who visited Island Gardens remember the statue but have no idea when or why it was removed. It is hoped that someone reading this article will have further information that will help to solve the mystery.

I suspect that it is possible that the statue was transferred to another park or is in some gardens somewhere. However it would be nice to know where ‘Diana’ is now residing.

If you have any information, please send to isleofdogslife@gmail.com