Jesmond Towers, lion pond

First appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1898. Trees had been removed to provide an open aspect to the lawned terraces to the north. Steps led down to the woodland, and there was a circular garden to the east of the pond - this was a rose garden in the 1970s. The pond still exists but it is in poor condition and is overgrown. The pond has stone walls and a cascade, designed to resemble natural outcrops of bedrock. Ferns were planted around the rocks. In the late 1970s a butyl liner was introduced to clean out the pond. There is a large stone lion at the side of the pond, which faces northwards towards the Dene. The lion is over life-size and sites on a narrow block of stone. The crude nature of the carving shows that the statue was intended to impress at a distance rather than at close quarters.