The Triumphal Arch, Parlington Park
The memorial inscription along the top says
"Liberty in N.America Triumphant MDCCLXXXIII".

Click on the picture to see it enlarged.

This photograph has been supplied by Finlay Payne of Victoria, B.C., Canada
This item of unusual interest is in Parlington Park which borders the parish. It is the only monument in the United Kingdom which celebrates the loss of the American War of Independence. The memorial was erected by Sir Thomas Gascoigne, the Lord of the Manor of Barwick-in-Elmet, to show his approval of someone getting the better of George III. It is more or less a copy of the Arch of Titus at Rome.
"It is said that George IV in the days when he was Prince Regent, was passing through this part of Yorkshire and was to lunch at Parlington. On coming to the arch, under which he he would have to pass, and being informed of its purpose he declared he would not enter the house of a man who could thus perpetuate the memory of England's defeats, and immediately turned back."
(Colman: A History of the Parish of Barwick-in-Elmet in the County of York.)

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