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Bust

Sanctuary - head on right - Albert

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.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Sanctuary - head on right - Albert

Subjects commemorated i

Prince Albert

Born Schloss Rosenau, Coburg, Germany, as Albert Francis Augustus Charles Ema...

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

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Temple Bar memorial - Truscott

Temple Bar memorial - Truscott

EC4, Fleet Street

The east face is framed with pilasters each side, decorated with emblems of "war" to the left and "peace" to the right. Carved in the sto...

1 subject commemorated
Edward VI at the Bull & Mouth

Edward VI at the Bull & Mouth

EC1, London Wall, Rotunda garden at Museum of London

This bust is at the top of the memorial along with the arms of Christ's Hospital, which Edward founded. The land belonged to Christ's Hos...

2 subjects commemorated
Colonial Office - B03 - Gascoigne

Colonial Office - B03 - Gascoigne

SW1, Whitehall, Foreign Office

Statues Hither and Thither has been invaluable in identifying some of the busts and most of the statues. The statues are not labelled and...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Colonial Office - B18 - Edward III

Colonial Office - B18 - Edward III

SW1, Whitehall, Foreign Office

Statues Hither and Thither has been invaluable in identifying some of the busts and most of the statues. The statues are not labelled and...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

SW1, Knightsbridge, 55 - 91

Lea Cornthwaite suggested this might be the Duke of Cambridge. Stephen Brasher suggested Lord Salisbury.   Comparing pictures of the cont...

1 subject commemorated