Bust

Sanctuary - head on left - Victoria

Erection date: 1854

Site: Westminster Sanctuary (4 memorials)

SW1, Broad Sanctuary, The Sanctuary, 1-8 Broad Sanctuary

The building is Grade II listed, a terrace of Bath stone buildings incorporating gateway to Dean's Yard. 1853-54 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Some sources say these were built as houses which seems unlikely but they are certainly now used as offices.

Niches in the turrets, at first floor, house two very similar statues. The spandrels of the gateway are decorated with two roundels with portrait heads, one of which is crowned. These all seem to represent particular individuals but we can find no information, so we have to guess.

The statues are crowned and each clutches a model building, with slightly different fenestration. So we think they are the two kings central to the creation of Westminster Abbey: Edward the Confessor who, in 1042-52, (re)built St Peter's Abbey here, and Henry III who, in 1245, began the building of the current Abbey. Comparative beard lengths seem to corroborate our theory.

And the two heads must represent Victoria and Albert: the female wears a crown and the male doesn't, the date of the building, they even look like some of their portraits.

The memorial column in our photo is covered on its own page: Westminster School - old boys.

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:
Sanctuary - head on left - Victoria

Subjects commemorated i

Queen Victoria

Reigned: 1837-1901, 64 years. Born Kensington Palace. Daughter of Edward, Duk...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Sanctuary - head on left - Victoria

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Noor Inayat Khan bust

Noor Inayat Khan bust

WC1, Gordon Square

The Guardian reports: "the first stand-alone memorial to an Asian woman in the UK" and elsewhere we read that it is "one of the few anywh...

War dead | WW2
3 subjects commemorated, 3 creators
National Portrait Gallery - Walpole

National Portrait Gallery - Walpole

WC2, Charing Cross Road

This building, 1896, designed by Ewan Christian, has 18 busts contained in medallions around the top of the facades. Starting at the east...

1 subject commemorated
Queen Elizabeth II - Bexleyheath bust

Queen Elizabeth II - Bexleyheath bust

DA6, Bexleyheath Market Place

Sculpted by Frances Segelman and erected to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the queen's coronation.

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
William Booth bust

William Booth bust

E1, Mile End Road, Mile End Waste

As so often, Ornamental Passions have a good post on this sculpture.

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
King Lud - 2 entrances

King Lud - 2 entrances

EC4, Ludgate Hill

The two Leon doorways are each topped with this bust.

1 subject commemorated