Northernhay Gardens

Northernhay Gardens are located in Exeter, Devon, England, on the northern side of Rougemont Castle.

They are the oldest public open space in England, being originally laid out in 1612 as a pleasure walk for Exeter residents.

[citation needed] They form a crescent shape bounded to the north by the West of England Main Line and Exeter Central railway station, and to the south by the castle and Rougemont Gardens.

The early park was destroyed in the Civil War, in 1642, when large defensive ditches were dug outside the walls for the city's defence.

[4] Stephens also sculpted the statues of John Dinham, who was a local philanthropist,[5] and Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet,[6] in the gardens.