The War Memorial Garden is in the centre of Rochester to the south-western side of the High Street and to the north of Rochester Cathedral. The War Memorial Garden was laid out in the years after WWI. The memorial itself was erected in/prior to 1922. The ground it occupies is part of a "Scheduled Monument" - 'open areas within Roman Saxon and Medieval town'. The garden is dominated by a 4m high stone cross which is the main war memorial for Medway and the focus for the town’s Remembrance Day parade. To the south west of this is a brick wall and ornamental wrought iron gate which were erected after the Second World War. There are two commemorative plaques on this wall.

In 2015, the Kent Gardens Trust performed a review of historic information relating to the War Memorial Gardens, Rochester.

Taken from the review:
"HISTORY: The War Memorial Garden was laid out in the years after the First World War. A photograph in the Couchman Collection dated 1922 shows a newly erected memorial bedecked with flowers (DE402 4 61.jpg). No definite date for the laying out of the garden has been established. The ground it occupies is part of a “scheduled monument” described as ‘open areas within Roman Saxon and Mediaeval town’. At least part of the site seems to be over the mediaeval monks’ cemetery. There is no record of any archaeological exploration of the area.The wall at the rear of the garden was constructed after the Second World War.

[The site is] a small rectangular space (26m X 28m) opening off of Rochester High Street…the north eastern boundary is the shop at No. 76 and the remains of an ancient wall; the south western boundary is the path north of the cathedral running to the Deanery gate; to the south east is the wall of No. 80. The ground rises approximately one metre along the axis of the path running up to the war memorial. There are views from the whole area to the northern façade of the cathedral and to Gundulph’s tower and the Deanery Gate. The garden is undistinguished with mown grass, stone paths and a few beds of annuals and roses…
The garden is dominated by a 4m high stone cross which is the main war memorial for Medway and the focus for the town’s Remembrance Day parade. To the south west of this is a brick wall and ornamental wrought iron gate which were erected after the Second World War. There are two commemorative plaques on this wall." (1).

<1> Kent Gardens Trust, 2015, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Medway: War Memorial Gardens, Rochester (Unpublished document). SKE31422.