Site

There are sculpted lions couchant on a number of entrance piers in this area, one just to the right, outside our photo, and a pair at each of the two entrances to Ursula Mews; we counted 6 and they are not from the local garden shop.  This map c.1870 shows this area as empty fields, no old house that might have been adorned with lions.

An 1895 map (and another of 1936) shows this whole block built up with very uniform terraced housing, on all four sides.  The lost houses must have been the same as the ones that survive today: substantial but not grand enough to have drives so it seems unlikely that the lions were introduced then. Perhaps they arrived with the church.

We'd guess a WW2 bomb provided the opportunity for the modern housing and the church that are now on the site. The Manor House parish was founded in 1973 so that's probably when the church was built and also when this medallion was erected.

Thomas More is a Catholic martyr but we are not aware of any association between Thomas More and this area.