Sited on one of the small islands in Lord Temple’s gardens at Stowe. Originally the monument had a small granite sarcophagus at the top. Then a terrestrial globe was placed on the pedestal, which was of soft limestone. This is now lost. Cook’s profile is on a medallion at the north side of the pedestal

The finial, dated 1974, was constructed in two parts, the lower section was a hollow concrete box, with a central void filled with coarse gravel aggregate. The external surface is coated with fine grey sand which resembles stone. The upper section of the finial is of identical grey concrete mix with external coating of sand particles. The finial shape is of two interconnecting barrel vaults, probably intended to crudely resemble the shape of a stone sarcophagus.

Earl Temple who had the monument set up, died in 1779. In 1778 the Cook monument was placed on an island, in the ‘Elysian Fields’ area of the garden.

The Seeley guidebook of 1788 described the globe as depicting the Equatorial and Tropical lines of global circumference. It was then moved on the south end of the river just north of the shell bridge.

In 1998 the Stowe Project Team removed the monument from its position at the southern end of the Alder River and was re-erected on its original site. In 2002 it was placed at its original 1778 location on an island in the Alder River.

It was unveiled at its new location in mid-2002.

Source: captaincooksociety.com

Edvard

April 29, 2018

Restored in 2002 to its original (1778) location on an island in the Alder River, or River Styx, this small monument to Captain Cook had stood for over 150 years on the south end of this part of the river, just north of the Shell Bridge.
Previously topped by a small granite sarcophagus, as seen in the photograph below, the pedestal once again supports a terrestrial globe nearly as large as the pedestal itself.

A close-up view of the medallion on Cook's Monument Captain James Cook (1728-79) who sailed from Whitby, North Yorkshire, is considered to be one of the greatest explorers, navigators, and cartographers in history. He was the first to circumnavigate the world in both directions. He made three voyages to the South Pacific that opened the way to the development of Australia, New Zealand, and the South Sea Islands. He was killed by natives on the Hawaiian Islands (then known as the Sandwich Islands) during his third voyage, and an account of his death may be found at this link to the Captain Cook Society's Web pages. Cook's profile is sculpted in a medallion on the north side of the Monument, and it can be seen clearly from the benches near the Seasons Fountain, where the visitor is invited to pause a while and contemplate the scene. Both Bevington and the Guide to the Gardens note that the Monument reflects the family's interest in and support of the expansion of the British Empire......
faculty.bsc.edu/jtatter/cook.html

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Location: Stowe, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire, South East England, England, United Kingdom

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