 For a time , each of the grass squares in the garden had a statue in its centre , standing on its own pedestal . They were probably moved there from St James 's Palace in the 1650s but became the target of Puritan zealotry during the Interregnum , due to the perception that they were biblically prohibited " graven images " . A woman named Mary <unk> wrote to Oliver Cromwell to demand that they be taken down , demanding that he " demolish those monsters which are set up as ornaments in [ the ] privy garden , for whilst they stand , though you see no evil in them , yet there is much evil in it , for whilst the crosses and altars of the idols remained <unk> away in Jerusalem , the wrath of God continued against Israel . " One man took more direct action ; it was recorded in 1659 that " about this time there was a cook that lived by the Palace Gate , Westminster , that in Sermon time went into Whitehall Garden , and with him carried a smith 's great hammer ; he broke there those goodly statue of brass and marble , which report said they were the neatest made and the best workmanship in Europe , in half an hour 's time [ he ] did above £ 500 worth of hurt . " 
