Christopher Wren's Temple Bar

Temple Bar

Sir Christopher Wren

1669-1672

Portland stone

Restored and re-erected in Paternoster Square, 2004.

Photograph and text 2006 by Jacqueline Banerjee.

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In its original site at the boundary of the Strand and Fleet Street, this marked the entry to the City of London from the West End. It was first mentioned as a boundary in 1293. Although the Great Fire spared the current fourteenth-century structure, it was decided to rebuild it. Wren's design was for a central arch for carriages, and smaller ones on each side for pedestrians. The four monarchs at the top are Charles I and II (west side) and James I and Anne of Denmark (east side, shown here). At Temple Bar (now at the Temple Bar Memorial), the monarch traditionally receives permission from the Lord Mayor to enter the City. On the occasion of Wellington's funeral, his funeral car was so bulky (17' tall, according to Liza Picard [376]) that some of its superstructure had to be lowered before it could be squeezed through the main arch.

The Temple Bar Memorial, its sculpture, and related material

References

Weinreb, Ben, and Christopher Hibbert, eds. The London Encyclopaedia. London: Macmillan, rev. ed. 1992.

Picard, Liza. Victorian London: The Life of a City, 1840-1870. London: Phoenix, pbk ed. 2006.

Last modified 2 August 2011