Plaque

Bankers Clearing House - 3

Inscription

{Sailing ship, 3 crowns to left, and monogram to right:}
TCCT

The monogram is TC followed by CT written backwards, part of Coutts's symbol, which also includes the 3 crowns. A ship does not normally feature in Coutt's symbol, so we are not certain why it is so prominent here.

Site: Bankers Clearing House (7 memorials)

EC4, Lombard Street, Post Office Court

At the north end of Post Office Court, attached to the west wall adjoining St Mary Woolnoth, are six salvaged carved panels. We have numbered these left to right and top down. They can all be seen in our photo, all but number 7, a fruity capital, which is behind the camera, down on the ground and predictably, damaged.

The Bankers Clearing House was on this site 1833 - 2001. Many of these sculptures reference the various banks that were members of the clearing bank system and our identification task was greatly eased by Martin’s Bank.

Geograph have a photo and quote the City of London: "These sculptures elements were installed here in 2003/4. They were decorative elements of the building previously on the site at 10-15 Lombard Street/ 83-36 King William Street and it was a condition of the planning permission to demolish the building and build a new one that this stonework was salvaged and reinstated as part of the development. The stone panels were previously over doors and entrances to passageways across the site. The previous building on the site was a Portland stone clad building constructed in 1938/40, which was designed by Whinney Son and Austin Hall." Surely Whinney, Son and Austen Hall is meant.

It would be good to know which banks were in the Bankers Clearing House at the start of WW2, since, presumably, they would all have been represented in the architectural sculpture on the building erected at that time. We cannot find a list of that date but Martin's Bank have the list as at 1962. It has eleven names: Barclays; Coutts; District; Glyn, Mills & Co; Lloyds; Martins; Midland; National; National Provincial; Westminster; Williams Deacon's. Three of these are not represented by their symbols in the sculptures: Lloyds (horse); Martin's (grasshopper + liver bird); Westminster (river, flowers, portcullis). All three were members of the Clearing House much earlier than 1940 so it seems very likely that they would have been represented on the walls of this building, and there may have been other clearing banks at that time who were also represented. It's not surprising that some sculptural elements are probably lost.

At the south end of this Court is a piece of architectural sculpture relating to the GPO buildings that were also on this site.

Spitalfields Life has a 1956 photo of St Mary Woolnuth showing a steel framed building being constructed behind. Perhaps this is the building from which this sculpture came.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Bankers Clearing House - 3

Subjects commemorated i

Bankers Clearing House

Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (or, in the form of a booklet) is very h...

Read More

Coutts & Co Bank

Founded by Scottish goldsmith, John Campbell, who set up shop at the sign of ...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Bankers Clearing House - 3

Also at this site i

Bankers Clearing House - 1

Bankers Clearing House - 1

{3 shields, from the top down: - Bishopsgate arch (National Provincial) - dot...

Read More

Bankers Clearing House - 2

Bankers Clearing House - 2

The VR monogram must refer to the monarch at the time the Bankers Clearing Ho...

Read More

Bankers Clearing House - 4

Bankers Clearing House - 4

This panel refers to no bank. It references Peace, a common wish, but since t...

Read More

Bankers Clearing House - 5

Bankers Clearing House - 5

{Dragon/griffin with lightening bolts, stomping on a stag}

Read More

Bankers Clearing House - 6

Bankers Clearing House - 6

{3 shields, from the top down: - anchor (Glyn, Mills & Co) - blank - 2 ba...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Doctor Alfred Salter - SE10

Doctor Alfred Salter - SE10

SE10, Greenwich South Street, 23

Birthplace in 1873 of Dr. Alfred Salter, Quaker and first Labour M.P. for Bermondsey. A tireless crusader against sickness and poverty.

1 subject commemorated
Benjamin Baker - W8

Benjamin Baker - W8

W8, Kensington Gate, 3

Sir Benjamin Baker, 1840 - 1907, civil engineer, designer of the Forth Bridge, lived here 1881 - 1894. English Heritage

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Frank Matcham - Hackney Empire

Frank Matcham - Hackney Empire

E8, Mare Street

The round plaque is on the wall under the main entrance canopy, high up, near the first "E" of Empire. The three brass plaques are in the...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Royal Horticultural Society

Royal Horticultural Society

W1, Piccadilly, 187, Hatchards

At Messrs. Hatchard's in a house on this site The Royal Horticultural Society was founded on the 7th March 1804.

2 subjects commemorated
Old Schools

Old Schools

HA1, Church Hill, Old Schools

The Listing entry explains: "West wing, originally built 1615 and incorporating panelled schoolroom probably about that date. Architect M...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator

Previously viewed

Lee Miller

Lee Miller

Fashion model and photographer.  Born New York. Worked closely with Man Ray in Paris and worked within the surrealist movement, starring in Jean Cocteau's film "Le sang d'un poète". Married an Egyp...

Person, Art, Egypt, France, USA

1 memorial
John D. Hawkins

John D. Hawkins

Overseer of St Marys Rotherhithe in 1886.

Person, Politics & Administration

2 memorials
Poets' Corner

Poets' Corner

The popular name for the south transept of Westminster Abbey. Geoffrey Chaucer was the first person to be interred here, although it was for his position as Clerk of Works to the Palace of Westmins...

Place, Literature

1 memorial
St Mary Moorfields

St Mary Moorfields

Catholic church built by architect John Newman in 1820. Replaced in 1902 by the church of the same name in nearby Eldon Street. From the church's website: "As the permanent seat of the Vicar Apost...

Building, Religion

1 memorial