Lightbox version
Fleet Street, London.
inscription reads: ” This statue of Queen Elizabeth stood on the west side of Ludgate That gate being taken down in 1760, to open the streets, it was given by the City to Sir Francis Gosling, knight and alderman of this ward, who caused it to be placed here.
More history from
Churches of Fleet Street
The other ornament was the figure of Queen Elizabeth, which stood at the east end of the church, above a cutler’s shop. This figure [was] set up in 1766…
On the demolition of the church, the figure was sold for £16, 10s., and apparently lay neglected for some time, as we read in the Times for April 25, 1839, the following reference to it : ” The workmen engaged some time since in taking down an old public house adjoining St. Dunstan’s Church, in Fleet Street, discovered in one of the cellars the ancient stone statue of Queen Elizabeth, which formerly stood in the nave of the old church. The parochial authorities have resolved to place it on the south end of the church, fronting Fleet Street.” Here it may now be seen.
The old public-house referred to remained standing till 1859. It had been in the occupation of the Buttons for forty years. In 1750, it was known as the ‘ Haunch of Venison,’ and later as the Clifford’s Inn Coffee House. An insurance office now occupies its site.