Portrait Bench

Part of a national artwork celebrating local heroes.

About Portrait Bench

The figures at Reculver Country Park are (from left to right):

• A Roman woman – there was a fort at Regulbium close to where Reculver Towers stand today
• an oyster fisherman – oysters have been farmed in the area since Roman times, and the Whitstable Oyster thrives in the Thames Estuary water, and is celebrated by the annual Whitstable Oyster Festival
• Warner (‘Bill’) Ottley, the pilot who flew on the Dams Raid (617 Squadron RAF) and was shot down near Hamm.