Trinity Church Square and its statue
Trinity Church Square
The development of the estate began with the formation of Great Suffolk Street East (now Trinity Street) in 1813–14 and the construction of Trinity Square (now Trinity Church Square) between 1824 and 1832. Most of the square was built by William Chadwick, who had the contract for mason's work for the recently completed Holy Trinity Church. In 1824, he applied to the Corporation of Trinity House for a building lease "intended to form the Square round the new Church". At that date, three houses had already been built on Great Suffolk Street East, which became the north side of the square (these are now 60–62 Trinity Church Square).
William Chadwick was granted building leases for the square and the triangle of ground between Cole Street, Swan Street and Great Suffolk Street East, at ground rents of £160 and £440 respectively. By the end of 1826, most of the west side of the square (nos 1–15) had been built. In 1832, the square was completed when the south side (16–29) was finished. William Chadwick himself occupied the largest house in the square, number 29.
Although originally constructed as individual houses, much of the square has now been converted laterally into flats across two or three house widths. Numbers 48–50 were destroyed in World War II and rebuilt in 1954. Number 29 was used as a gentlemen's club in the 1930s to 1950s. It then fell into disrepair and was completely rebuilt in 1970, with seven flats replacing the original house, behind the same facade.
Houses in Trinity Church Square. Image courtesy of British History Online
Trinity Church Square 1950s
Trinity Church Square elevations 1950 - 1951. Image courtesy of British History Online.
Trinity Church Square in winter
Trinity Church Square in winter
Trinity Church Square in summer
Trinity Church Square street sign
The Trinity Street post box
Trinity Church Square phone box
North side of Trinity Church Square
The Trinity Church Square Statue
Disagreements over the statute’s provenance
The origins of the statue in the garden of Trinity Church Square has long been the subject of some controversy. The statue is shown in an engraving of the church by Whittock, published in Allen’s Complete History of Surrey in 1830, and referred to as a statue of King Alfred of unknown origin. London cabbies will tell you that it is the oldest statue in London. Historians have speculated that the figure is one of eight medieval statues from the north end of Westminster Hall, five of which disappeared without trace while Sir John Soane was clearing the north front of the hall in 1820–25. An alternative theory has been that it is one of a pair of statues representing Alfred the Great and Edward the Black Prince made for the garden of Carlton House in 1735. Carlton House was demolished and its grounds were cleared in 1827–29. Others have argued that our statue is the work of the sculptor James Bubb who was commissioned to produce statuary for the new Manchester Town Hall in the 1820s. Ours could have been one of two that turned out to be too large for the niches designed to hold them.
Conservation work in 2021
The true origin of the statue was revealed in 2021 as a result of conservation work, supported by TNRA, undertaken by London Stone Conservation and funded by a combination of Trinity House and a £10,000 grant from Heritage of London Trust. While the statue was thought to date from the 18th century or later, the core is in fact nearly 2,000 years old. Much of the lower half is Roman and is from a colossal ancient sculpture, almost certainly dedicated to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and just causes. It dates from the late 1st century or early 2nd century during the reigns of the emperors Trajan or Hadrian. The upper half of the statue - which depicts a broad-shouldered, bearded man with a crown and robe was created in the early 19th century when, in apparent antiquarian veneration,
it was added to the Roman sculpture to create a figure of Alfred, the revered Anglo-Saxon King of England. Together, they form a statue that is about 2.6 metres high.
Image courtesy of The Telegraph
The Romans in Trinity Village
When the Romans arrived in Britain in 43 AD, they settled on the south bank of the Thames on two large islands south of the present-day London Bridge. Marshes gave way to firmer ground in the area where Borough tube station is today and the road from the Roman bridge split into two - Watling Street, along the line of Great Dover Street, and Stane Street, running along Newington Causeway. Thus, Trinity Village lay just outside the pomerium, bordered on two sides by major roads. It was perfectly located to become the southern cemetery of Roman London, a necropolis of statuary, columned sepulchres, walled-in villas, temples and household shrines. The first record of a Roman archeological find in our area dates from 1825-6 when Trinity Church Square was being built and workmen uncovered a skeleton, a vase and the remains of a sepulchre. Since then, a wealth of objects and structures has been revealed that evidence of the macabre beginnings of Trinity Village and the surrounding area.
Roman sarcophagus found in 2017 in Swan Street. Image courtesy of the Museum of London.
Expert opinions on the statue’s Roman origins
Professor Martin Henig, a leading expert on Roman sculpture, was interviewed by the Sunday Telegraph in August 2021, which reported the news of the statue’s provenance. He told the paper that the core of the statue “is part of a cult statue of a goddess from a major temple area by Roman Watling Street, part of which was excavated at nearby Tabard Square. We think that this came from one of the largest temples on the site …. It is extraordinary. I know no other instance of a piece of Romano-British statuary being used in creating what is a pastiche Late Medieval style statue. I imagine when it was found it was thought to be Medieval and was employed to give the King Alfred statue authenticity.” Professor Henig draws stylistic parallels with the headless statue of the goddess Minerva found in Cambridgeshire and now in the Duke of Bedford's collection at Woburn - although our example is about twice the size: “The folds are so alike. These classical statues followed very precise lines. Minerva would be by far the most likely goddess… She was widely venerated in Roman Britain.”
The Sunday Telegraph also interviewed Dr Kevin Hayward, a leading archaeological stone specialist. He estimates that the original Roman carving would have been a free-standing sculpture, approximately three metres high. He notes that the size of the stone leg seems disproportionately large, even for a statue the size of Alfred. The Roman section is made of a Cotswold limestone, a “Bath stone” from a block that would have been brought downstream on a barge-type vessel on the Thames. “It is very well carved, showing muscle definition, probably by a continental craftsman used to working native British stone,” Dr Hayward said. The upper half of the statue is Coade stone, which was attached to the Roman statue in a complex process.
Image courtesy of the Museum of London
Probably the oldest statue in London
Dr Chris Constable, Southwark's borough archaeologist, has commented:
It’s really exciting to find out that there’s been a piece of Roman sculpture on display in London since at least 1831, the first evidence we have for King Alfred standing in Trinity Church Square. There has been an enormous number of theories about it. It’s always been mentioned quite vaguely as the oldest statue in London - and now it probably is. At least part of it is 1,000 years older than we thought.
