ANIMAL STATUES IN LONDON 5
Animal Statues in London 5
Woolwich
This lion in St Mary's and St Andrew's churchyard is the final resting place of Tom Cribb, the 19th century world champion bare-knuckle boxer. Cribb's ashes are contained in the urn under the lion's paw.
In Panton Street, near Leicester Square, there is a also a pub named after the celebrated pugilist. It is near to where another pub, the Union Arms, once stood where Cribb was landlord after retiring from boxing.
Two dogs guard the Guard House pub. Built in 1718, it was formerly the Main Guard House of Woolwich Royal Arsenal barracks.
Ealing Broadway
Small Work Horse by Judith Bluck was unveiled Queen Elizabeth II in March, 1985.
Forty Hall, Enfield
On occasion, the statues I track down, like this pair of well-worn lions, turn out to be a bit underwhelming. But invariably the location still makes the effort worthwhile, in this case a Grade I listed Jacobean mansion surrounded by gardens, lakes and walking trails. It was built in the 1630s by Sir Nicholas Rainton, a former Lord Mayor of London.
The lion on the right has been there for many years, it was clearly visible in an early 19th-century drawing. The other, which looks more like a dog, has been in this spot since the 1980s.
You can also marvel at one of the sixty-or-so Great Trees of London - the Forty Hall Cedar of Lebanon. Unfortunately, the 350-year-old tree is no longer so great, having suffered major damage in August 2024 when a large branch broke off. A fungal infection was blamed for weakening the structure. Before being acquired by the Borough of Enfield in 1951, the last owner of the Forty Hall estate was Henry Ferryman Bowles, great-grandfather of Andrew Parker-Bowles, the first of Queen Camilla's two husbands.
Myddelton House, Enfield
Young Boy Holding Apron With Puppies is a 19th century Flemish statue that can be found in the fine gardens created by the respected British botanist who lived at Myddelton House for the whole of his life. Edward was the younger brother of Henry Ferryman Bowles.
Richmond
In front of Richmond Railway Station, Jaska, a 17-year-old wild male chimpanzee, was the model for yet another Gillie and Marc offering. Having lost the use of one arm due to polio, Jaska had taken to walking bipedally, like a human.
Wild Chimp Play, also my Gillie and Marc, can be found by Richmond Bridge. Luca and Aiden, males chimps aged eight and two, are featured at play, overlooked by Virginia Woolf ......
Virginia and her husband Leonard Woolf lived in Richmond from 1914-1924. This statue was created by Laury Dizengremel.
Brixton
The Fox and Cherries (2010) in fibreglass and recycled materials by Lucy Casson stands above Electric Avenue.
You could be forgiven for thinking Eddy Grant's 1983 hit Electric Avenue was inspired by somewhere in the West Indies, especially as the video was shot in Barbados. But he was actually singing about Electric Avenue in Brixton and the 1981 race riots. Hereabouts, the vibes are now pretty good - with a colourful street market (the first to be lit by electricity), the incessant sound of steel drums and some decent street art which (inevitably) includes a somewhat weathered Bob Marley portrait.
Nuclear Dawn (above, left) was painted in support of the Women's Peace Camp established at Greenham Common as a protest against nuclear weapons. It depicts a skeleton standing over London as it is destroyed by a nuclear bomb with the Tory government cowering in a bunker in the bottom corner. The mural was completed in 1981 by Brian Barnes and Dale McCrea assisted by Christine Thomas.
The mural with the parrot is on the side of the Prince of Wales pub, above which .....
I said I'd ignore weather vanes but the Brixton Heron above the Prince of Wales is huge. It is silver on one side and actually moves with the wind.
Barking
You'd think there would be at least one dog statue in Barking. But all I could find was a lowly sheep and a lot of fish.
The Catch by Loraine Leeson of eSPACE is the centrepiece of the Longbridge Road roundabout.
The ram stands proudly on top of Barking's Folly Wall.
Alcoves in the Folly Wall house what appear to be statues of reclining animals. It's not possible to tell what animals they are as they all devoid of heads. Dogs, maybe?
Heron Place, George Street
Twickenham
If you can take your eyes off the naked nymphs there are two winged horses to tick off here. The statues were created in the Roman studio of Orazio Andreoni at the turn of the 19th century. They were camouflaged during World War II so as not to be a landmark for German bombers.
I can recommend the nearby White Swan Thameside pub. They serve a wide range of beers including Twickenham Fine Ales Naked Ladies, named after these statues.
Knightsbridge Green
Triga is a trio of racehorses made in 1957 by Czech sculptor Frantisek ('Franta') Belsky. They are on the corner of Caltex House on the Brompton Road, commemorating the site's former use as Tattersall's auction yard. Pop into Harrods whilst you're in the vicinity - or Tattersall's pub.
Natural History Museum
No, this isn't Dippy, the large dinosaur cast that dominated the central hall of the museum before it was replaced by the skeleton of a blue whale. This is Fern, a bronze reproduction of Dippy which stands in the new Evolution Garden at the front of the museum.
Dippy was itself a plaster replica of the fossilised bones of a Diplodocus carnegii skeleton which is the star attraction at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History. London's Dippy embarked on a tour of British museums in 2018 and is currently on a long-term loan to the Herbert Museum in Coventry.
Berkeley Square
You wait 150 million years for a dinosaur then two come along at once. This is, unmistakably, a Juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex (2023) presented by the David Aaron Gallery. The sculpture is derived from a 3D scan of one of the most complete T Rex fossils ever discovered.
Salmon Leap (2004) by Michael Cooper stands outside 40 Berkeley Square, the European headquarters of Blackstone who claim to be the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Alternative assets are investments other than stocks, bonds and cash; eg property, art, cryptocurrencies, infrastructure.
Oxford Street
This lion sits opposite Bond Street Underground Station. Refurbished as part of the Elizabeth Line construction, it crowns what was one of two gatehouses which were originally part of Stratford House, a private residence of the Earl of Derby between 1908 and 1932. The other gatehouse was removed in 2015.
Fuham Broadway
Currently closed, a pub has been here since the 1770s. This statue on the roof is a reminder that from the early 19th century until 2006 it was called the Red Lion. Since then it has had several reincarnations, the last being the Redback, an Australian pub which closed in 2024. The building would doubtless have been snapped up by Wetherspoons but they are already about to open a new one just round the corner, next to Fulham Broadway station.
Wimbledon Station
Arthur the Stag (2012) is by Isabelle Zhizhi Southwood, a student at the Slade School of Fine Art. This being Wimbledon in June, I didn't have to wait long for someone with a tennis racket to walk into shot.
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