| Diana Fountain, Bushy Park | |
|---|---|
 The fountain viewed from the Hampton Court side | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Fountain |
| Location | Bushy Park, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames |
| Country | England, United Kingdom |
| Designations | Grade I |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Arethusa or 'Diana' Fountain |
| Designated | 2 September 1952; reclassified 25 February 2011 |
| Reference no. | 1080871 |
The Diana Fountain in Bushy Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England, is a seventeenth-century statue ensemble and water feature in an eighteenth-century setting with a surrounding pool and mile long tree lined vistas which honors the Roman Goddess Diana.[1] Originally created for Somerset House in the 1630s, and remodelled about 1690, the fountain has stood since 1713 in Bushy Park, and now forms a large traffic island in Chestnut Avenue.
It is the focal point of two major vistas designed by Sir Christopher Wren, including Chestnut Avenue which is the ceremonial landward approach to Hampton Court Palace. The traffic island is circular and contains a 400-foot (120 m) diameter pool surrounded by lawns, with the Diana statue on a tall base in the middle of the pool. The fountain was listed as Grade II in 1952 and in 2011 reclassified as Grade I.[2]
- ^ The gold female figure is not actually the Roman goddess Diana, it depicts her honoured friend Arethusa, a water nymph, who Diana turned into a stream in order to help her avoid the advances of lesser-God, Alpheus. In Sicily, Italy, there is a larger water feature depicting this myth, where the actual source of the stream is which inspired the original myth.
- ^ Historic England (2 September 1952). "Arethusa or 'Diana' Fountain (1080871)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 July 2020.