Obelisk

(lost) St George's Obelisk - lost

St George's Obelisk - lost

Site: St George's Obelisk - lost (1 memorial)

SE1, Lambeth Road

We knew that the obelisk now at St George's Circus spent much of its life in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, from about 1897 - 1998, and now we have a photo of it there.

Wikipedia says the obelisk was at "the north apex of Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, (the remnant of Multon Close) a short distant southwest, in front of the museum .." But where exactly? This map shows something at the entrance to the grounds of, what was then, Bethlem Royal Hospital, but we think that indicates the gatehouse, which is still there.

The photo shows the obelisk at a corner with traffic lights, and the street sign reads "St George's Road". The buildings in the background provide other essential clues. We believe they are/were in Barkham Terrace. This was a Georgian terrace with a chapel in the middle. Upton Chapel is the pedimented building shown in the photo and the modern building with the distinctive banding near the top can be clearly seen in Streetview today. The chapel was damaged in WW2, demolished in 1952 and replaced with an extension to the modern building in exactly the same style. And the white, classical building at the left? This can only be the gatehouse at the entrance to the grounds of the Hospital. We were confused at first since all these buildings seem too close but we assume that's an effect of the lens used in the camera.

We thank Mark Brady for sharing this photo. We'd like to thank the source but Mark found it on the internet a long time ago and can't remember the website (we've all been there). And after we'd done all this photo-examination he sent us a map showing the location of the obelisk - exactly where we'd laboriously deduced it was.

We've marked this memorial as 'lost' which clearly it isn't, but that's our way of indicating that a memorial is no longer at the place marked with our pin. See it at its current location for information about the inscriptions, etc.

Credit for this entry to: Mark Brady

Nearby Memorials

Hackney Wick war memorial

Hackney Wick war memorial

E9, Victoria Park

2016: We took a close-up photo of the most legible corner - the rest is just gray mottled lettering on gray mottled marble - to show why ...

2 subjects commemorated
Lewisham war memorial

Lewisham war memorial

SE13, Lewisham High Street

The Lewisham War Memorials website says that the inscription on the main memorial reads: 'To the memory of Lewisham heroes 1914 - 1918 an...

5 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Cleopatra's needle

Cleopatra's needle

WC2, Victoria Embankment

Pink granite, 68.5 feet high, 186 tons. Vulliamy created, and Youngs cast, the bronze sphinxes at the base, about which our colleague, Al...

5 subjects commemorated, 3 creators
New Zealand obelisk

New Zealand obelisk

SE10, King William Walk

Made of Cornish granite.  We've photoed the stone chain around the monument.  Lower down is a stone rope with knots at the corners. We l...

War dead | Other war
22 subjects commemorated
East Ham war memorial

East Ham war memorial

E6, High Street South, East Ham Central Park

This is a substantial monument, often described, understandably, as a cenotaph. Designed by the architect/local politician Banks-Martin. ...

War dead | WW1
1,844 subjects commemorated, 1 creator