Monuments & Ruins

Not every statue in London. The ones worth crossing the road for: Roman wall, medieval ruins, and the monuments that earn a detour.

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Charles I at Charing Cross

The oldest bronze equestrian statue in England, and the point from which every distance to London is measured.

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Photo by Flickr: L'habitant / Tony, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Art and Power & Politics.

Hubert Le Sueur cast it in 1633 for the Lord Treasurer's garden in Roehampton. After the king's execution Parliament sold it to a brazier named Rivet to melt down, who sold cutlery he said was made from it and buried the statue in his garden; at the Restoration he produced it intact. It was set up in 1675 on the spot where the original Eleanor Cross had stood until the Puritans destroyed it, looking down Whitehall to the place where Charles was beheaded. A plaque in the pavement behind it marks the official centre of London, from which the mileages on the roads are counted.

Where
Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DS
Nearest station
Charing Cross · 1 min walk

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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