What's the oldest statue in London?
A statue of Alfred the Great, standing in leafy Trinity Church Square, Southwark, was long thought to be the oldest freestanding statue in London, believed to be one of a group ordered by Richard II for Westminster Hall in 1395. However, studies in 2021 showed that the top half is no older than the late 18th century – whereas the lower half is Roman in origin, probably part of a statue of Minerva created c80–130 AD.
The crown for the oldest whole free-standing statue thus goes to a round-faced, smiling Elizabeth I, at St Dunstan-in-the-West on Fleet Street, which was removed from the City’s old Ludgate in 1760. Assuming the date ‘1586’ carved into the base is correct, it’s the only surviving statue of the queen
