Statue

Jacob the dray horse

Erection date: /10/1987

Inscription

{On a bronze plaque attached to the front of the plinth:}
Jacob, the Circle dray horse
The famous Courage dray horses were stabled on this site from the early nineteenth century and delivered beer around London from the brewery on Horselydown Lane by Tower Bridge.
In the sixteenth century the area became known as Horselydown, which derives from 'horse-lie-down', a description of working horses resting before crossing London Bridge into the City of London.
Jacob was commissioned by Jacobs Island Company and Farlane Properties as the centrepiece of the Circle to commemorate the history of the site. He was flown over London by helicopter into Queen Elizabeth Street to launch the Circle in October 1987.

{On a bronze plaque attached to the back of the plinth:}
The Circle, Tower Bridge
A development by Jacobs Island Company plc and Farlane Properties NV
Architects: Campbell Zogolovitch Wilkinson & Gough, Robinson Keefe & Devane
Completed 1990

We are not convinced by the derivation of Horselydown. Horses don't lie down to rest, do they? We imagine this horse is named Jacob after the commissioning property developers, Jacobs Island Company, who took their name from the Victorian name for this area, Jacob's Island, at the time a notorious slum, celebrated in 'Oliver Twist' as the scene of Bill Sykes’s death.

According to the sculptor: "My objective was to portray the dignified tolerance and the power of these horses plus the hint of resignation to men’s direction and the vagaries of a cold wet windy winter."

Site: Jacob the dray horse (1 memorial)

SE1, Queen Elizabeth Street, The Circle

Silver Tiger kindly wrote to tell us that Jacob has a brother, Drummer, by the same sculptor. He was installed in Dorchester at the site of another brewery in 2014.

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:
Jacob the dray horse

Subjects commemorated i

Courage brewery - Horselydown Lane

Founded by John Courage at the Anchor Brewhouse site.  The earliest existing ...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Jacob the dray horse

Created by i

Shirley Pace

Sculptor. Shirley Sylvia Pace was born and brought up in Worthing. With an ea...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Imperial Hotel - statue 12 - Cromwell

Imperial Hotel - statue 12 - Cromwell

WC1, Russell Square

The fur collar, the cap . . . Surely this statue is the man in the Cromwell portrait.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Thomas Coutts statue

Thomas Coutts statue

WC2, Strand, 440

The Story of Holly Lodge' by Margaret Downing, March 2009, says that this statue was commissioned by Coutts' wife "to take pride of place...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
King's Cross statue of George IV

King's Cross statue of George IV

N1, Gray's Inn Road, King's Cross junction

Our image (1835 by George Sidney Shepherd) comes from View from the Mirror where you can find an introduction to the history of the King'...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Colonial Office - S05 - Bulwer Lytton

Colonial Office - S05 - Bulwer Lytton

SW1, Whitehall, Foreign Office

Statues Hither and Thither has been invaluable in identifying some of the busts and most of the statues. The statues are not labelled and...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Holborn Viaduct - Myddelton

Holborn Viaduct - Myddelton

EC4, Holborn Viaduct

The sculptor has a page about this statue and its creation with some interesting photos.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator