Stock No: 10774

One of three keystones .
THE FLEET
Sculptor Sir Charles Wheeler. Circa 1957.

Provenance: Originally one of three keystones, representing historical London rivers, The Thames, The Fleet & The Walbrook, & part of a larger group including two statues of St George. This keystone was above the main entrance left hand bronze door of the One New Change building, part the Bank of England Annexe in the City of London

The building erected in the 1950s to accommodate the Bank of England's Accounts Department & demolished in 2007, occupied the whole site bounded by Cheapside to the north, Watling Street to the south, Bread Street to the east, Newgate to the north west and New Change to the west and filled a sensitive site in that it presented a backdrop to Christopher Wren's majestic Baroque St Paul’s Cathedral.

The Fleet is one of Londons lost rivers and was once the next largest to the Thames. It flowed south from Hampstead Heath and entered the Thames near Blackfriars Bridge. What is left of the once grand Fleet now flows in pipes buried deep under the streets of the city. Fleet Street..".The street of shame " , so called because of its many hostelries, is named after it.