This was the story we were told in Queenborough. If some of it has got muddled in the retelling it's entirely the writer's fault, and you will have to go to Queenborough yourself to hear the truth.

Near the hard, where the sea rushes in twice a day, there's a small park. This is for the elephant.

Back in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I the town was busy and important, providing gunpowder and harbourage, and Gloriana decided to pay a visit. As the dust cloud surrounding her entourage rolled nearer, the mayor of the time who was a roofer and thatcher, saw it approach from the roof on which he was working. Unfortunately, as he slid off the roof to meet her he split his breeches but had no time to rush home and change. Thus it is possible that the great queen saw rather more of the mayor than she should.

Having a sense of humour, the Queen reminded him of this incident by sending him, next New Year's Day, a new pair of breeches. And the next, and the next, and so on, until he politely wrote to her and said that a man could only wear so many pairs of breeches.

When she replied, she caused great excitement and the creation of the park, as the mayor read that instead she would send him a caged elephant. Thus the park was created: however, to his great embarrassment, a rereading of the letter showed that her promise was to send a cash equivalent and the park has remained elephantless until this year, when an elephant led the parade through Queenborough, as you can see on one of the photos.