Plaque

Bankers Clearing House - 6

Inscription

{3 shields, from the top down:
- anchor (Glyn, Mills & Co)
- blank
- 2 bars + 7 dots (District)}

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 - 6

Subjects commemorated i

Bankers Clearing House

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

Read More

District Bank

Founded as Manchester and Liverpool District Bank. Name shortened to District...

Read More

Glyn, Mills & Co. Bank

Founded in London as Vere, Glyn & Hallifax. Name changes: c.1780 Glyn, Ha...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Bankers Clearing House - 6

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 - 3

Bankers Clearing House - 3

The monogram is TC followed by CT written backwards, part of Coutts's symbol,...

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

Nearby Memorials

Victoria Foundation stone

Victoria Foundation stone

WC2, Savoy Place, 2

Built in 1886 this was originally the joint Examination Hall for the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons. Its c...

1 subject commemorated
Sir Charles Dilke

Sir Charles Dilke

SW1, Sloane Street, 76

London County Council Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 1843-1911, statesman and author, lived here.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Mary Wollstonecraft - N16

Mary Wollstonecraft - N16

N16, Newington Green, Newington Green Primary School

Plaque unveiled by councillor Catherine West, leader of Islington Council, Unveiled on International Women’s Day.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Westminster Hall - Mandela

Westminster Hall - Mandela

SW1, St Margaret Street, Westminster Hall

Referring to the plaques on this second landing, as viewed by the people in our photo who are reading them the right way up: - at the lef...

1 subject commemorated
Electrical Engineering College

Electrical Engineering College

WC1, Southampton Row, 70, Faraday House

Faraday House Electrical Engineering College occupied this building from June 1903 until April 1967.

1 subject commemorated

Previously viewed

Bombs 7 July 2005

Bombs 7 July 2005

In the middle of the morning rush hour four bombs went off on three tube trains, at 8.50am and a bus, at 9.47am. 52 people died. Plaques commemorating the victims have been placed at each of the b...

Event, Seriously Famous, Terrorism, Tragedy

12 memorials
James K. Polk

James K. Polk

USA President 1845 –1849.  Signed the documents formally integrating Texas into the United States on 29 December 1845.

Person, Politics & Administration, USA

0 memorials
Florence Keen - steel statue

Florence Keen - steel statue

N4, Station Place

There are two plaques on the blue bench behind the statues: Plaque 1: The characters for this Portrait Bench chosen by your community ce...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Newlon Housing Trust

Newlon Housing Trust

From the picture source website: "Newlon Housing Trust was established in 1967 when philanthropic members of the New London Synagogue decided to club together to buy properties that could be rented...

Group, Property, Social Welfare

2 memorials
Bronislaw Kubica

Bronislaw Kubica

Sculptor.  Polish. Active in 1974.

Person, Sculpture, Poland

1 memorial