Stock No: 10772

OLD FATHER THAMES Keystone.
Sculptor Sir Charles Wheeler.

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 central bronze door of the main entrance of One New Change, part of 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 Roman Baroque St Paul’s Cathedral.

' Old Father Thames keeps rolling along, down to the mighty sea'...( Raymond Wallace )..The source of this great river is reputed to be in a field in Gloucestershire from where it begins a 215 mile journey eastwards passing through Oxford, called here by its Latin name of Isis; past Windsor Castle and Hampton Court; through London past the Houses of Parliament and The Tower and on down to Gravesend & the sea. Its strategic position has seen it at the centre of many historical events; it has supported human activity from its source to its mouth for thousands of years; provided water power, food and drink; has been a venue for spectacular entertaiments & acted as a major highway for international trade through the Port of London. Perhaps John Burns, MP for Battersea 1929, best described it as “Liquid History”.

Link to: Antique, old vintage fountains, sculptures, garden furniture and statuary