Tower House and Westgate Gardens
Tower House is used as the Lord Mayor's office and for official functions, it was built around one of the 21 medieval bastions constructed to defend Canterbury's city wall. Although maps show a house on the site in 1832 and records suggest dwellings have been in place since the 15th century, the current House is an early Victorian building, probably dating from around 1850, but the exact date is uncertain.
The first notable owner was a Mr G Neame, who lived there from 1855 to 1873 and was followed by Mr William Howard, proprietor of Chartham Paper Mills, who resided there until 1882. Two ornate Victorian wings were added around 1870, although these were demolished when Tower House was donated to the City in 1936.
In 1886 the house was acquired by the Williamson family, proprietors of Canterbury's famous tannery and it was during their ownership that the beautiful gardens around the house, now known as Westgate Gardens, were laid out.
Tower House and the 11 acres of surrounding gardens were formally presented to the City of Canterbury by Mr Stephen Williamson in June 1936, to serve as a memorial to the Williamson family's 200 years' continuous association with the City and the family's 50 years of residence in Tower House.
Mr Williamson's wife Catherine, who was a City Councillor at the time, was always jointly associated with this gift and she was responsible for the redevelopment of the house and gardens in conjunction with the City Architect. The two Victorian wings were pulled down and the riverside walks laid out as they are seen today. Mrs Williamson subsequently became Canterbury's first female Mayor.
The gardens alongside the River Stour are among the most picturesque in Kent and provide a pleasant, relaxing rest-place for tourists and residents alike. Among the garden's curiosities is a fine Norman archway, thought to have been transferred from St Augustine's Abbey in the 19th century and a superb oriental plane tree, said to be one of the largest in Britain and perhaps 200 years old.
