The grand gateway of Temple Bar was not built for this
location, but, since it was also designed by Christopher Wren it is most
appropriate that it ended up here looking across to St Paul’s.
Originally Temple Bar was built on the site of one of the
City’s eight gateways. It was located
where Fleet Street and The Strand meet, so was on the main route towards
Westminster. Records show a bar
(probably a chain) being mentioned on that site as early as 1293, and the word
‘Temple’ indicated its neighbour is the Temple law courts. The bar was replaced with a timber gateway
and then this stone structure.
For over four centuries it has been a tradition that the
Monarch stops at Temple Bar to gain ‘permission’ to enter the City. This might seem rather odd, but indicates how
Kings and Queens had respect for the powerful merchants of London whose deep
pockets might be called upon to support a campaign or war. It was a wise political move to keep
London’s financial power on your side.
Likewise, the gateway’s royal statues demonstrated the
City’s desire to be loyal to their monarch.
The original statues still exist depicting
the husband and wife of King James I and Queen Anne of Denmark, their son Charles
I and his son Charles II. In essence, a
three generation photo album. The royal
beasts and coats of arms are modern replacements for lost statues.
This gateway, like other London entrances, would impress and
scare visitors. Impress with the fine
carvings of Monarchs, and scare by the impaled heads of traitors which were
displayed on spikes on top. The last
heads put on here were in 1746.
As Victorian traffic increased it became a bit of a
bottleneck, so it was taken down in 1878 and purchased for use as a grand
gateway into the private country estate of Sir Henry Meux near Enfield,
Hertfordshire.
126 years later (2004)
it returned to the city and was erected here.
The Lord Mayor of London along with 14 stone masons pushed open the
gates of Temple Bar (weighing 1.2 tons each) and Temple Bar was once again open
to London traffic… well, foot traffic.
This is an excerpt from the FREE tour St Paul's Precincts found on www.obelisktours.co.uk
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