Statue

Sanctuary - king on left - Edward the Confessor

Erection date: 1854

Have we correctly identified this king?

Site: Westminster Sanctuary (4 memorials)

SW1, Broad Sanctuary, The Sanctuary, 1-8 Broad Sanctuary

The building is Grade II listed, a terrace of Bath stone buildings incorporating gateway to Dean's Yard. 1853-54 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Some sources say these were built as houses which seems unlikely but they are certainly now used as offices.

Niches in the turrets, at first floor, house two very similar statues. The spandrels of the gateway are decorated with two roundels with portrait heads, one of which is crowned. These all seem to represent particular individuals but we can find no information, so we have to guess.

The statues are crowned and each clutches a model building, with slightly different fenestration. So we think they are the two kings central to the creation of Westminster Abbey: Edward the Confessor who, in 1042-52, (re)built St Peter's Abbey here, and Henry III who, in 1245, began the building of the current Abbey. Comparative beard lengths seem to corroborate our theory.

And the two heads must represent Victoria and Albert: the female wears a crown and the male doesn't, the date of the building, they even look like some of their portraits.

The memorial column in our photo is covered on its own page: Westminster School - old boys.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Sanctuary - king on left - Edward the Confessor

Subjects commemorated i

Edward the Confessor

King of England. Son of Ethelred the Unready. Born between 1003 and 1005 at I...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Sanctuary - king on left - Edward the Confessor

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Doctor Alfred Salter - SE16 statue

Doctor Alfred Salter - SE16 statue

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The multi-part sculpture is called 'Dr Salter's Daydream' and shows the whole Salter family. The scene is poignant in that Joyce died at ...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Paddington Bear statue - Paddington Station, gone

Paddington Bear statue - Paddington Station, gone

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Since arriving at Paddington Station from Peru this bear's journeys have not ceased. He's been moved around the station a few times. Octo...

3 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
George III with the River god

George III with the River god

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Bronze statue erected in 1789 showing the king who had commissioned the rebuilding of Somerset House. The statue is awash with nautical a...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Public Record Office - Queen Anne

Public Record Office - Queen Anne

WC2, Chancery Lane, Maughan Library of King's College, ex-PRO

The first buildings to occupy this site were built in 1232 by Henry III.  The building was known as the Domus Conversorum (the House of C...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
George Canning statue

George Canning statue

SW1, Parliament Square, Canning Green

Bronze.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator