Plaque

Bankers Clearing House - 5

Inscription

{Dragon/griffin with lightening bolts, stomping on a stag}

Site: Bankers Clearing House (7 memorials)

EC4, Lombard Street, Post Office Court

At the north end of Post Office Court, attached to the west wall adjoining St Mary Woolnoth, are six salvaged carved panels. We have numbered these left to right and top down. They can all be seen in our photo, all but number 7, a fruity capital, which is behind the camera, down on the ground and predictably, damaged.

The Bankers Clearing House was on this site 1833 - 2001. Many of these sculptures reference the various banks that were members of the clearing bank system and our identification task was greatly eased by Martin’s Bank.

Geograph have a photo and quote the City of London: "These sculptures elements were installed here in 2003/4. They were decorative elements of the building previously on the site at 10-15 Lombard Street/ 83-36 King William Street and it was a condition of the planning permission to demolish the building and build a new one that this stonework was salvaged and reinstated as part of the development. The stone panels were previously over doors and entrances to passageways across the site. The previous building on the site was a Portland stone clad building constructed in 1938/40, which was designed by Whinney Son and Austin Hall." Surely Whinney, Son and Austen Hall is meant.

It would be good to know which banks were in the Bankers Clearing House at the start of WW2, since, presumably, they would all have been represented in the architectural sculpture on the building erected at that time. We cannot find a list of that date but Martin's Bank have the list as at 1962. It has eleven names: Barclays; Coutts; District; Glyn, Mills & Co; Lloyds; Martins; Midland; National; National Provincial; Westminster; Williams Deacon's. Three of these are not represented by their symbols in the sculptures: Lloyds (horse); Martin's (grasshopper + liver bird); Westminster (river, flowers, portcullis). All three were members of the Clearing House much earlier than 1940 so it seems very likely that they would have been represented on the walls of this building, and there may have been other clearing banks at that time who were also represented. It's not surprising that some sculptural elements are probably lost.

At the south end of this Court is a piece of architectural sculpture relating to the GPO buildings that were also on this site.

Spitalfields Life has a 1956 photo of St Mary Woolnuth showing a steel framed building being constructed behind. Perhaps this is the building from which this sculpture came.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Bankers Clearing House - 5

Subjects commemorated i

Bankers Clearing House

Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (or, in the form of a booklet) is very h...

Read More

Midland Bank

Founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Birmingham. Expanded to become ...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Bankers Clearing House - 5

Also at this site i

Bankers Clearing House - 1

Bankers Clearing House - 1

{3 shields, from the top down: - Bishopsgate arch (National Provincial) - dot...

Read More

Bankers Clearing House - 2

Bankers Clearing House - 2

The VR monogram must refer to the monarch at the time the Bankers Clearing Ho...

Read More

Bankers Clearing House - 3

Bankers Clearing House - 3

The monogram is TC followed by CT written backwards, part of Coutts's symbol,...

Read More

Bankers Clearing House - 4

Bankers Clearing House - 4

This panel refers to no bank. It references Peace, a common wish, but since t...

Read More

Bankers Clearing House - 6

Bankers Clearing House - 6

{3 shields, from the top down: - anchor (Glyn, Mills & Co) - blank - 2 ba...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Kingston Hospital - flying bomb

Kingston Hospital - flying bomb

KT2, Kingston Hospital

Brought to our attention by John Arnold who believes the building was the Medical Superintendent's house.

Civilian war dead | WW2
4 subjects commemorated
Highbury Quadrant Congregational Church - 2 Fleming

Highbury Quadrant Congregational Church - 2 Fleming

N5, Highbury Quadrant

The 7 plaques are on different faces of the frontage of the building. We've numbered them left to right. Plaque 3 can be seen in our phot...

1 subject commemorated
Constance Baker

Constance Baker

SW6, Bishop's Park Road, Bishop's Park

In memory of Constance Baker, "Mother of the Wounded", entertained the armed forces during the first world war in Bishops Park. Born 21.6...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Percy Shelley - SE1 - Southwark

Percy Shelley - SE1 - Southwark

SE1, Nelson Square, 26, Applegarth House

British History Online gives: "Percy Bysshe Shelley {} took lodgings at No. 26 as a tenant of Thomas Lillo on 9th November, 1814. Shelley...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Austin Stephen Burton - Barnet

Austin Stephen Burton - Barnet

EN5, Barnet High Street

The plaques are down at skirting-board level, one is hidden by the table outside the PDSA and the other is largely hidden by the pedestri...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator