Relief: Royal Exchange Assurance
Site: Cornhill pump (5 memorials)
EC3, Cornhill
Around the top are some delightful reliefs in iron of the badges of early fire insurance companies: Sun, Phoenix, London and Royal Exchange. These are all crudely coloured with red, gold, blue. See 'Also at this site'.
This water pump, designed by architect Nathaniel Wright, is Grade II listed, where it is described “Obelisk of cast iron with canted corners, slight decoration and long inscriptions. Granite trough probably of later date.” As you can see from our photos the pump is (2011) in a dreadful state of repair. Let's hope someone notices soon and perhaps the modern day equivalents of its original erectors will fund its restoration.
2015: prompted by Jon Pettigrew on Facebook we must report that the pump was indeed restored not long after we photographed it. (Keeping London Remembers up-to-date could become a full-time job.) But the splendid A London Inheritance has photographed it for us, and provided some earlier photos and history.
