ANIMAL STATUES IN LONDON 9

  

 Animal Statues in London 9

Golders Hill Park

      The Water Baby Fountain can be found in the walled garden of this delightful park just west of Hampstead Heath. Created by Edward Bainbridge Copnall in 1950, the sculpture was originally unveiled in Finchley's Victoria Park before being moved here in the mid-1970s.

     There are several other nice sculptures in Golders Hill Park including Diogenis (above, left) and Golders Hill Girl which was donated to the park in 1990 by it's sculptor Patricia Finch.

     The park also has a small zoo and nice café. And there's a famous pub - The Old Bull and Bush - on the edge of the park.

Pond Street, Hampstead                                      Upper Street, Islington

       Here are two animal sculptures above pubs - The Roebuck and The Hare and Hounds. Like fox hunting, hare coursing has been illegal in England since 2004. A pub, not always called the Hare and Hounds, has stood on this spot since the early 1800s.

Narrow Street, Limehouse

      Herring Gull (1994) by Jane Ackroyd is opposite The Grapes which dates back to the 1720s; and there was on pub on this site as early as 1583. Since 2011 the Thameside pub has been owned by Sir Ian McKellen. The wooden staff he used as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings can be seen behind the bar ......

     Overlooking the river from the pub you can see one of Anthony Gormley's castings of his own body.

Canada Square, Canary Wharf

     These two striking lions guard the entrance to the HSBC building.

Canary Wharf

     Whale on the Wharf was built by Jason Klimoski and Lesley Chang from five tonnes of plastic waste collected from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by the Hawaii Wildlife Fund.

     The foundations of the statue are made from a new form of concrete combining sand, aggregate and waste coffee grounds collected from Canary Wharf coffee shops. Canary Wharf produces almost 200 tonnes of spent coffee grounds per annum.

Watford

      This two-meter high statue of a hornet represents the nickname of Watford Football Club.

Hounslow Heath

     Sticking with insects, here's a big dragonfly. From 1910-1920 Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was a grass airfield which, in 1919, hosted the British Empire's first scheduled daily international commercial flights. It is not to be confused with Great Western Aerodrome, which opened nearby in 1929, and is now Heathrow. 

Harefield Village Green

      No surprise to see a statue of a hare in Harefield but what's with the map of Australia? Well, Harefield has a significant connection to Australia due to its history as the primary Australian Auxiliary Hospital during World War I. Established In 1915, and staffed by Australian nurses, the hospital was the convalescent centre for wounded ANZAC soldiers. Some Australian soldiers were buried in the nearby St. Mary's Churchyard.

Syon House

     The Percy Lion, which sits on top of Syon House's Lion Gate, is almost 300 years old. The distinctive straight tail is modelled after the crest of the Percy family. The lion originally stood on top of Northumberland House in the Strand where it is said to have been positioned so that it's rear end pointed towards Clarence House as an insult by the Duke of Northumberland towards the Prince of Wales.

Methodist Hall, Westminster

     In Christian iconography the ox represents St. Luke and the eagle St. John.

Warwick Crescent

     Two Doves by William Mitchell is dedicated to poet Robert Browning who lived in Warwick Crescent. The doves 'symbolise peace, love and learning'.

Southwark Cathedral

      The cat with a fish in it's mouth is in memory of Doorkins Magnificat, a stray who made her home in the cathedral in 2008. The cat corbel was created to replace one that eroded, as was the one next to it which depicts policeman Wayne Marques who was injured in the 2017 London Bridge terror attack.

     When Doorkins died in 2020, a memorial service was held and her ashes buried in the cathedral grounds. As this was during the pandemic it was held to be grossly insensitive by some.

Millwall Park, Isle of Dogs

      This is a replica of Frank Dobson's Woman and Fish (1951). The original was unveiled in Frank Dobson Square, Stepney, in 1963 - the year Dobson died. Repeatedly vandalized, it was scrapped in 2002.

      Dobson's statue, which had water flowing from the fish's mouth, was made of concrete. This 2007 copy, by Antonio Lopez Reche, is in bronze.