A PRANKSTER with an ironic understanding of history is being blamed for a Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead sign being dumped in Wellington.

The stolen sign was discovered in the town’s Monmouth Gardens, in North Street, by a regular customer of Wetherspoon’s Iron Duke public house on the other side of the road.

The royal borough is home to Windsor Castle, the official residence of King Charles III, the first anniversary of whose coronation is on Monday (May 6).

A plaque is mounted on the wall of Monmouth Gardens, Wellington, telling the story of the Duke's unmasking.
A plaque is mounted on the wall of Monmouth Gardens, Wellington, telling the story of the Duke's unmasking. (Tindle News)

And Monmouth Gardens is named after the 1st Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles II, who in 1685 tried to overthrow the then-monarch James II.

The name of the gardens was taken because it was the site of the Half Moon Inn, reputed to be the tavern in which the secret of the Duke’s plans was leaked, leading to his army being defeated in the Battle of Sedgemoor on July 6 that year.

The Monmouth Rebellion, as it became known, saw the Duke return from exile in Holland and land at Lyme Regis, Dorset, to raise an army of Westcountrymen.

After a series of battles and skirmishes with mixed results, the King’s forces were trying to track down Monmouth’s location in early July.

Legend has it that some of the rebels were gathered in Wellington’s Half Moon Inn and their planned movements were overheard and revealed by a Royalist sympathiser, allowing the King’s army to mount a surprise attack and defeat Monmouth’s troops on the moors near Bridgwater.