The Town Hall Garden, Whiffens Avenue, Chatham, was previously the burial ground for St. Mary's Church. Late-19th-century legislation allowed the conversion of disused burial grounds into public gardens. These green areas were particularly valuable to the elderly and the very young in the congested inner city areas, and nowadays they offer a quiet retreat from urban hustle

The collected headstones stand together against the boundary brick wall and the ground slopes gently to the west with trees in groups or in association with shrubs. Yews and evergreens recall the history of the garden but the mixture with deciduous species is not sombre and there is considerable variety in the planting.

In September 2014, the Kent Gardens Trust conducted a survey of the history of the gardens.

From the report
"STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Town Hall Gardens survive as representative of a common – and in this case early (1828) - origin of civic open space in Chatham: the gifting of land from military to civilian ownership by the Ordnance Board. First gifted to, and laid out by, Chatham parish as an overspill burial ground, its later transfer to the Corporation (in 1903) for public open space is also a common use of the period for redundant and closed burial grounds. The Gardens represent Chatham Corporation’s response to providing and preserving public open space under the Open Spaces Act 1877. Typically of such sites, there is significant archaeological potential as features of the burial ground such as boundary walling, entrance gateway , path layout and remnants of tombs were retained, and survive today (2014) within the surviving layout, as were headstones although these are relocated against the walls. Also typically for such early C20 sites, the Gardens were laid out by the Corporation, probably by the Borough Surveyor, reflecting local civic pride in creating such spaces. Elements of the early C20 design, which was conventional, probably survive in the tree planting, as do a number of early C19 trees which contribute to the aesthetic of the Gardens by reflecting, with the headstones, their earlier use as a burial ground.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT:
[The site, formally the Rope Works, was developed as a burial ground (1828) when the previous burial ground became overcrowded. Known, by the mid-1860s, as the Chatham Burial Gournd, burials continued until 1870 when a new cemetery opened in Mardstone Road. The space was conveyed from Chatham Parish to Chatham corporation on 9th september 1903 for its preservation and use as a public recreation ground under the Open Spaces Act 1877.]

…The minute book for the Highway and Works Committee records on 14 January 1905 the name was changed from the Old Burial Ground to Town Hall Gardens; they were formally opened on 14 June 1905, the event being recorded on the inner western wall of the entrance gateway by an inscription recording the names of Chatham Corporation’s Mayor, Town Clerk and Borough Surveyor. The ‘Chatham News’ also records the opening under its editorial “Jottings By the Way”…

…The layout of the Gardens is first recorded in 1907 (3rd edition 25”OS map 1907-1923). The only obvious entrance, through a gateway on the north-west boundary, and larger buildings on the south-west boundary, were both shown on the earlier OS maps and are likely to have been used in connection with the management of the burial ground. The 1907-1923 map also shows for the first time two greenhouses near the north-western corner and a layout of paths comprising a perimeter route within the boundary walls, a central one and linking cross paths to form a diamond shape, plus two linking, curved paths towards the south. An adjacent, military burial ground (to its north-east) is marked as disused at this date and by 1929 (4th edition OS map (1929-1952) is not labelled so presumably any remains were transferred elsewhere by then and the site closed sometime after the mid-1950s (OS 4th edition). This site is now, 2014 a public car park.

Since the early 1950s (OS map 1929-1952) the following changes have taken place: the western arm of the southern curved paths has gone, as has the south-west boundary path and boundary wall; there are now two sets of steps leading down to Rope Walk. On the southern boundary, a new path links the Gardens with mid/late C20 housing at the north end of King Street. The entrance gateway structure and railings survive on the north-western boundary.
In June 2008, supported by the Chatham World Heritage body and facilitated by local artist Fiona Watt, a time capsule, containing local residents’ mementoes of the meaning of Chatham’s heritage, was buried. Medway Archives hold the capsule key which is not to be opened for at least 30 years.
The site is owned and managed by Medway Council which was formed in 1998 from the City of Rochester, Borough of Chatham, Strood Rural District and Gillingham Borough Council.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS: The Gardens are predominantly laid to close mown grass and planted, mainly formally as individuals alongside the paths, with deciduous and coniferous trees, some isolated mature shrub specimens and six formal, roughly oval shaped mixed shrub beds, three either side of the central path. Trees comprise mature English and Irish yews, which probably survive from the early C19 burial ground planting , also variegated holly, sycamore, beech, cherry, silver birch, and various cypresses which are in a less mature state and which may survive from the Corporation’s planting of the Gardens in c1925 ( Photographs Couchman Collection ). Shrubs are mainly evergreen and include species such as Pittosporum, Choisya, Euonymus, and privet. There are daffodil bulbs in the mown grass along the open boundary with Rope Walk. The shrub planting and youngest trees appear to date from the late C20…The layout comprises a central path, perimeter paths along the north-east and south-west boundaries which bisect to form a diamond pattern, an additional curved path at the south-eastern end and a ‘dead end’ spur at the south-western end. They are surfaced with tarmac and stone-edged in parts, with evidence of a stone slab base visible beneath the degraded sections. Photographs of c1925 (Couchman Collection) show stone slab pathways.

The former gravestones and memorials, in granite and marble, are mainly erected upright against the north-east and south-east walls. Those against the now (2014) ivy-clad north-east wall are generally in better condition than those on the south-east wall. A few tomb bases and memorials remain in situ in the grass, also now being colonised by ivy.
Photographs of c1925 and c1931 (Couchman Collection), show a mixture of lawns, mature and newly-planted trees and shrubs and seating. Some of the shrubs are formally clipped and circular or triangular beds are planted with bulbs and other flowering plants.
By 1952 (OS 4th edition), little change has occurred to the layout and planting, with the two greenhouses still in place. Today (2014) the greenhouses and adjacent buildings have gone as have the spiked railings topping the brick boundary walls and the brick wall on the south-west boundary. The formal flower beds have been replaced with shrub beds. Late C20 timber and metal-framed seats are set in grass adjacent to the paths, all facing west down the sloping site to rear views of the Town Hall and other contemporary office buildings. Towards the south-eastern end is a small, surfaced and equipped children’s play area c10m by 25m, set lengthways into the slope with timber sleepers to form a retaining wall and the whole fenced to exclude dogs."(1)

<1> Kent Gardens Trust, 2014, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Medway: Town Hall Gardens, Chatham (Unpublished document). SKE31420.