What Is The Oldest Statue In London?

With any question starting with ‘what is the oldest x’ in London, whether that is the oldest pub, church or sculpture, the answer is always more complicated than you would think.

Today, I thought I would tackle one of those: the oldest statue. This only includes outdoor statues, otherwise museums would come into play.

There are two main contenders, in my humble opinion, as to what is the oldest statue in London.

Queen Elizabeth I

So, in the red corner we have the statue of Queen Elizabeth I on Fleet Street. 

She stands in a niche on the outside of St Dunstan in the West church, holding an orb and sceptre. It is generally thought to have been carved in 1586 and is the only surviving statue of her created during her lifetime. It once stood on Ludgate, one of the seven gates in the city walls.

Ludgate was demolished in 1760 along with the other six to ease congestion on the roads. The statue was saved and eventually transferred to the church. 

Interestingly, Millicent Fawcett, the suffragette, became interested in restoring and maintaining the statue. Click here for a 1928 video of the statue being unveiled, although she is not actually in it. She also gave £700 in her will for the ongoing upkeep of the statue.

If the church is open, it is also well worth popping inside. Just inside the porch, underneath the Elizabeth I statue, are 3 more statues from the Ludgate, thought to date from the same period.

They depict King Lud, a mythical pre-Roman King of Britain, who is said to have founded London and was buried under the Ludgate. As these are basically indoors they unfortunately cannot be counted in the competition.

King Alfred The Great

And in the blue corner we have the statue in Trinity Church Square in Southwark thought to probably depict King Alfred the Great. Now, this one is a bit more complicated. 

Its origins are very obscure and up until recently lots of people thought this was the oldest statue in London. There was a theory that it dated back to the 14th century and was one of eight statues that once adorned the front of Richard II’s Westminster Hall.

Conservation work was carried out in 2021 and tests conducted to determine the age of the statue. It was discovered that, in fact, the top half is made from Coade stone. This is an artificial stone produced in Lambeth from the 18th century, meaning this section cannot be older than the 1770s. 

Amazingly however, the legs they found to be Roman, most likely from the 2nd century AD! Not only that but they are thought to be from a statue of the Roman goddess Minerva. Judging from the size of the legs, it would have been a roughly 3m high statue.

It is thought that the bottom half was probably discovered at the time the statue of Alfred the Great was being produced and added to give it more authenticity. You can watch my video about the Alfred statue here.

Conclusion

So there we have the two contenders.

I personally think to be considered for the prize of London’s oldest statue you have to be a full, deliberate sculpture of one person. I therefore am giving the Living London History oldest statue crown to the Good Queen Bess. Let me know though what you think in the comments, I am very open to other suggestions!

I would also like to give an honourable mention to the Sekhmet bust outside Sotheby’s, thought to date back to 1320BC. This is however a bust and not a statue.

Another goes to Cleopatra’s Needle, thought to date back to 1450BC, but again I would class this as an obelisk or sculpture rather than a statue. You can read about them both here in my Ancient Egypt in London blog post.

Thank you for reading! More quirky London history below…