ANIMAL STATUES IN LONDON 3

 

Animal Statues in London 3

Bermondsey
Jacob, The Circle Dray Horse
     Now dominated by swish apartments, The Circle, Elizabeth Street, was where the Courage Brewery dray horses were stabled from the early nineteenth century. The statue of Jacob was flown over London to Elizabeth Street by helicopter in 1987 to launch the new development.
     In the sixteenth century this part of Bermondsey was known as Horsleydown which was derived from horse-lie-down. Horses rested here before heading over London Bridge to work in the City of London.
     The Bermondsey Lion is the centrepiece of The Blue, Bermondsey's central market place; it has been here for over two hundred years.
     Woman with Greyhound by Anthony Weller is in nearby Avondale Square. It was commissioned in 1962 to mark the redevelopment of one of the City of London's largest housing estates.
Tate Britain
     No, this isn't the ancient Greek version of Twister. But, even seen from two angles, you'd be pushed to work out that this entanglement of bull and bodies depicts The Death of Dirce (1906) by Sir Charles Lawes-Wittewronge. Dirce claimed to be the mother of Amphion and Zethus, the twin sons of Zeus. But when the twins discovered their mother was actually Antiope, Dirce's niece, they killed their great-aunt by tying her to the horns of a bull. 
     The top of Tate Britain has Britannia flanked by a lion and unicorn.
 

Threadneedle Street
     The two camels above number 30 Threadneedle Street are on the crest of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of London. The Merchant Taylors Hall has been on this site since at least 1347. Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt (In Harmony Small Things Grow) is the company's heraldic motto. 
     It seems likely that Threadneedle Street came to be named after the  threads and needles of the merchant tailors.
    For camel lovers, there's another (and a horse) above the entrance to 40 Threadneedle Street, formerly the Oriental Bank Corporation which closed in 1892.
    If you walk through the arch below you can find Boy and Duck in the quaint alley known as Adam's Court. 
Regent's Park
    Girl and the Jaguar and Girl and the Fox are oak carvings by Tom Harvey in the north-west corner of the park, thankfully labelled on Google Maps.
    The curiously named Ready Money Drinking Fountain, with its lion and brahmin bull reliefs, was donated to Regent's Park by Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Readymoney (companion of the Star of India).
    The plaque reads: THIS FOUNTAIN ERECTED BY THE METROPOLITAN DRINKING FOUNTAIN AND CATTLE TROUGH ASSOCIATION WAS THE GIFT OF A WEALTHY PARSEE GENTLEMAN OF BOMBAY AS A TOKEN TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND FOR THE  PROTECTION ENJOYED BY HIM AND HIS PARSEE FELLOW COUNTRYMEN UNDER THE BRITISH RULE IN INDIA.
     I'm pretty sure all those millions of Indians without the ready money to buy fountains would not have been quite so enamoured with British rule. The fountain, costing £1400 (£88,000 today), was unveiled in 1869, coincidentally the year Mahatma Gandhi was born.

Westminster Pier
    A whole row of these lion-head mooring rings can be found on The Embankment at Westminster Pier. They were added in 1868 when it was said 'When the lions drink, London will sink. When it's up to their manes, we'll go down the drains. Fortunately, the embankment wall is now higher than when the moorings were installed.

No longer there ......
                         South Bank                                                        Trafalgar Square





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