English: The "monument' in the image is a memorial drinking fountain. Erected in 1879, it originally stood in the middle of the road a little further to the south at the junction with Park Avenue. It was moved in 1904 to accommodate new tram routes.

The main inscription on east face reads 'Erected in affectionate remembrance of Mrs Catherine Smithies of Earlham Grove, Wood Green, Founder of the Band of Mercy Movement, and presented by her family and friends for the use of the public'.

The stone forming the obelisk is twenty-one feet in length. In 1879 it was the longest single cut stone in London, with the exception Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames Embankment. Made of polished granite, it was quarried from the Penryn quarries of Freeman and Sons, in Cornwall.