Inscriptions: Bonn Square
This stone which until 2008 stood at the front of Bonn Square opposite the Westgate Centre, reads:
BONN SQUARE
THE LORD MAYOR OF THE CITY OF OXFORD
COUNCILLOR MRS OLIVE GIBBS
AND THE CHAIRMAN OF
THE BONN CITY DISTRICT COUNCIL
HERR STADTVERORDNETER REINER SCHREIBER
NAMED THIS SQUARE ON 5 OCTOBER 1974
The original St Peter-le-Bailey Church was demolished in 1874, and its churchyard was turned into a public garden: hence the ground of the square is much higher than the surrounding area because of all the burials that took place there. In 1900 the Tirah Memorial was placed in this public garden.
When the Westgate Centre was built in the early 1970s, the memorial garden was altered and renamed Bonn Square, to commemorate the fact that Oxford had been twinned with the city of Bonn since 1947.
In 2008 Bonn Square ceased to be a memorial garden and was paved over. It was unofficially reopened on 28 November 2008, and the official civic opening, attended by representatives from Bonn, will take place in May 2009.