Carlisle Monument

Freestanding granite plinth, erected c.1870, formerly supporting statue. Classically styled corniced pedestal on wide chamfered plinth, having chamfered corners and recessed polished pink granite plaques on each face. Inscription on north face reads'“Erected by public subscription 1870'. Inscription on south face reads 'George Wm. Frederick, seventh Earl of Carlisle, K.G / Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1835 to 1841 / Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1855-1858 and 1859 to 1864 / Born 1802. Died 1864.' East and west faces not inscribed. Surrounded by low level planting.

A classically-styled pedestal once supporting a bronze memorial statue of George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle, erected c.1870 and sculpted by Henry Foley. Carlisle was Chief Secretary and twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and had been instrumental in the creation of the Peoples' Garden as a place for the ‘recreation and instruction of the poor of Dublin’. Monuments were rare in Irish municipal parks before 1922 and the Carlisle Monument was the only statue in the Peoples' Garden when it was erected. Dislodged by a bomb in 1956, the bronze statue once supported by the pedestal was moved to Castle Howard in Yorkshire, England, but the pedestal has been retained as a memorial to the former peer. It acts as the central focus in a large grass area at the southwest edge of the gardens near Chesterfield Avenue.