Sir Sandford Fleming Park is a Canadian urban park located in the community of Jollimore in

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. Th ...

. It is also known as Dingle Park, named after the town of Dingle in southwestern Ireland. The park was donated to the people of Halifax by Sir

Sandford Fleming Sir Sandford Fleming (January 7, 1827 – July 22, 1915) was a Scottish Canadian engineer and inventor. Born and raised in Scotland, he emigrated to colonial Canada at the age of 18. He promoted worldwide standard time zones, a prime meridian, ...

. The centrepiece of the park is an impressive tower that commemorates Nova Scotia's achievement of

representative government Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...

in 1758. Constructed between 1908 and 1912, the Memorial Tower was erected during the same period of building other commemorative towers in the British Commonwealth, notably Cabot Tower in Bristol, England (1898) and Cabot Tower in St. John's (1900).

History

During the 1880s Sir Sandford Fleming, famous for introducing

standard time Standard time is the synchronisation of clocks within a geographical region to a single time standard, rather than a local mean time standard. Generally, standard time agrees with the local mean time at some meridian that passes through the ...

to North America, established a summer retreat on property fronting Halifax's Northwest Arm, after he finished constructing the

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely ow ...

. He called his retreat The Dingle, the name that is still used today. The park contains two walking trails passing through forests, heath barrens, saltwater marsh, and a large pond (Frog Pond). As well, the park also hosts a small sandy beach. The water quality of the beach had been a long, contentious issue due to decades of raw sewage being dumped into the Northwest Arm. Following the completion of new sewage treatment facilities in 2008, many of these concerns were allayed. Swimmers should check the municipality's website, and note that users should not swim at the Dingle beach for three days after heavy rainfall.

Dingle Tower

In 1908, Fleming donated the property to the citizens of Halifax for use as a park and proposed the construction of a tower within it to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the establishment of representative government in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, the province having held on 2 October 1758 the first elected assembly in what is now Canada. An ardent imperialist, Fleming also intended the proposed tower to serve as a memorial to the development of parliamentary institutions in the British Empire, now the Commonwealth. Designed by the architects Sidney Dumaresq and Andrew Cobb, the tower stands out as a rare form of architectural expression in the pre-World War I period of rising Canadian nationalism and fervent loyalty to the British Empire. The Memorial Tower is architecturally important because it combines Italianate influences with local construction methods and materials. The ten-storey stone "Dingle Memorial Tower" plan was accepted by the City of Halifax and the local Canadian Club undertook a fundraising drive to pay for construction. Donations were received from throughout the British Empire and plaques commemorating the contributions, as well as stones from all of the countries of the Empire were placed on the interior walls. It was formally dedicated in an impressive ceremony in August 1912 by Canada's

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

the

Duke of Connaught Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that was granted on 24 May 1874 by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to her third son, Prince Arthur. At the same time, he was also ...

who was also

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

's son

Prince Arthur Prince Arthur may refer to: *Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (1187-1203), nephew and possible heir of Richard I of England *Arthur, Prince of Wales (1486–1502), eldest son Henry VII of England *Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Prin ...

. The presence of members of the Royal Family and dignitaries from other parts of the Empire emphasized the importance of the occasion. In 1913, two large

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

lions at the foot of the tower were donated by the Royal Colonial Institute of London. Designed by British sculptor

Albert Bruce-Joy Albert Bruce-Joy (21 August 1842 – 22 July 1924) was an Irish sculptor working in England. His original surname was Joy but he became known under his hyphenated name Bruce-Joy later in life. He was the brother of the painter George W. Joy. ...

, they are similar to

Sir Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...

's lions at Nelson's Column in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

Restoration

The Memorial Tower was restored between 2010 and 2013. It was partially reopened at the beginning of August 2012 when the 100th Anniversary was celebrated at the opening ceremony. The bulk of the restoration was done by Coastal Restoration and Masonry with the involvement of a number of other specialist firms. The restoration included repointing the entire tower interior and exterior, rebuilding the copper roof, installing new stainless steel grilles on the Observation Deck to keep birds out and people in, reinforcing and refinishing the internal stairs, installing new interior and exterior lighting, refurbishing the window openings and installing new windows, and refurbishing the 35 plaques on the interior walls and the two bronze lions guarding the entrance. The total cost was approximately $2.3 million. The Dingle Memorial Tower is open to the public in the summer months and has views of the city and Northwest Arm.

Dingle Tower Gallery

File:JohnCabotPlaqueDingleTowerHalifaxNovaScotia.jpg,

John Cabot John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal Nor ...

departing

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundla ...

(1497) File:ChamplianStoneDingleTowerHalifaxNovaScotia.jpg, Stone from

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...

's birthplace in Brouage,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(1574) File:dingle tower 2003 winter.jpg, Dingle Memorial Tower File:ViewFromDingleTowerHalifaxNovaScotia.jpg, View From Dingle Tower

References

External links

Historical Register One hundred and fifty years of representative government : proceedings of celebration at Halifax, Nova Scotia on Oct. 2, 1908 (1908)Chisholm. The Halifax Memorial TowerHalifaxTrails.ca - Fleming Park Guide
{{coord, 44, 37, 41.1, N, 63, 36, 7.2, W, display=title Parks in Halifax, Nova Scotia