A grassed and wooded recreation ground donated as public open space in 1925 on land previously owned by the War Department, and formerly part of the grounds of Fort Clarence, a Napoleonic fort, dating from 1808.

In 2015, the Kent Gardens Trust Carried out a review of historical information relating to Clarence Park (and Willis Memorial Garden), Rochester.

Taken from the report:

"STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Clarence Gardens, incorporating Willis Memorial Garden demonstrate a surviving part of the military history of the Medway Towns in particular a military line on the land front allied to a surviving fortified tower, a defensive arrangement regarded as ‘rare, if not unusual for its time’ (Pattison). Once known as ‘the improvement’, (pers. Comm.), the Gardens display one of the few remains, together with the Tower of the Fort, which are clearly recognisable as part of the C19 military operational footprint. These military remains, both above and below ground and now largely hidden in woodland, hold high archaeological potential.
The Gardens are representative of a common origin of civic open space in the Medway towns in the late C19 and early C20 – the gifting of former military land by local benefactors. In this case they both commemorate Charles Willis, a former mayor of Rochester and philanthropist who tried to improve the lives of local people and include a memorial garden to a son lost in WW1.
The sites’ current maintenance, partly still as gardens but partly as scrub woodland, also represents communal changes in attitude in terms of public safety towards the use of and access to, surviving military structures.

…The Gardens and the landforms within them together with the Clarence Tower are now the only visible remains of a Napoleonic defensive Line (a type of fort), running east to west between the Maidstone Road and the River Medway.

…in the C19 land in the open section of the Line was let to tenant graziers and the Tithe Apportionment of 1846 confirms tenants occupying land which was to become Clarence Gardens.

…A solicitor’s letter of 1924 (MALSC) informs the City Corporation that Mr Willis proposes to ‘lay out two pieces of land as a whole as a public recreation ground and then present the ground to the Corporation.’ … Mr and Mrs Willis had lost a son on active service after the Armistice who was buried in France (War Record), and the intention was for the recreation ground to be divided, respecting the terrain, with the northern portion laid out as a memorial garden, while south of the revetted ditch there was to be a public pleasure ground. Deeds of Gift filed with the Land Registry (Medway Council) indicate that this happened in respect of the Willis Memorial Garden in 1925 and of the portion to the south, Clarence gardens, in 1928.

…the area of the Gardens returned to military use when the east/west ditch with its partially-buried casemates was called into service in WW2 as a small artillery range (Gulvin) and the Memorial Garden saw the placement of a light AA gun and platform, with the platform a remaining feature in 2014.

…LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING
Clarence Gardens ... occupy land either side of (i.e. north and south of) the revetted defence ditch which runs west to east from the Lower Fort at river level (now demolished) to the upper section of the Fort (and Clarence Tower) above.
The setting comprises housing to the north and buildings around Fort Clarence to the east, woodland and further housing (on the river’s edge) to the north, west and south-west.

…The surviving open area of the Willis Memorial Garden is roughly hoop-shaped, fairly flat and laid to mown grass. Three ornamental trees of early C21 origin are planted at intervals along the northern boundary railings. A memorial stone and plaque which give the Garden its name are sited c5m west of the southern entrance in the railings on the southern boundary. Some 2m from the railings in the north-west corner of the Garden is a circular concrete plinth (now, 2014, damaged) c2m in diameter and 0.5m high. Built as the base of a WWII AA gun, it was briefly converted into a circular wooden seat with a central wooden cone to lean against but was removed mid/late C20 due to vandalism (pers.comm). The overgrown shrubs and trees beyond the railings in the remainder of the site now obscure any views towards the river 200m below to the west.

In contrast, the larger, main part of Clarence Gardens, on its sloping site, is laid to open, mown grass with paths around its north and west perimeter. Other paths cross the site roughly north to south before merging to exit at the Borstal Road pavement, midway along the eastern boundary. Just to the north of this, beside the pavement, is an artificially-raised grass platform, once the site of a public shelter, (OS edition 1934) removed mid/late C20 due to vandalism (pers.comm.) and now (2014) replaced by a simple rustic wooden seat and litter bin. The seat offers a view, particularly in winter, of the river below to the west. There are a further three or four seats placed around the garden. A few specimen shrubs dot the grass and there is a small shrub bed close to the junction of the northern perimeter path with a path branching south across the site. This bed features a small concrete bird bath at ground level. Along the western perimeter path is a line of nine mature lime trees." (1)

<1> Kent Gardens Trust, 2015, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Medway: Clarence Gardens (incorporating Willis Memorial Garden), Rochester (Unpublished document). SKE31405.