Dragon's Head (Bishopsgate, London)
Christopher Horsnaile the elder (London c.1658 - London 1742)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1733 (payment recorded) - 1734
Materials
Portland stone
Measurements
711 x 1041 mm (29 x 41 in)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Wallington, Northumberland
NT 584973
Summary
Portland stone, Dragon's Head (Bishopsgate, London) by Christopher Horsnaile the elder (Loondon c.1658 - London 1742), 1733/4. One of four dragons' heads from Bishopsgate, one of the City of London's Gates, demolished in 1760.
Provenance
On Bishopsgate, London 1733/4 until the demolition of the City of London's Gates (Ludgate, Cripplegate, Aldgate and Bisopsgate) in 1760 and (Aldersagte and Moorgate in 1761); according to family tradition, the sculptures were probably brought to the Tyne as ballast in one of Sir Walter Blackett's ships. It has been suggested that when he saw them he had them taken to his sham-castle or folly at Rothley, Northumberland (John Hodgson 'History of Northumberland', 1827, Part II, vol. 1,page 305); at Rothley Crags until 1879;[...]; given with the property to the National Trust in 1941 by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Bt (1870 – 1958)
Makers and roles
Christopher Horsnaile the elder (London c.1658 - London 1742), sculptor
References
Adshead 2007 David Adshead, 'Dragon's on the Lawn The Afterlife of London's City Gates at Wallington', Apollo [National Trust Historic Houses & Collections Annual], 2007, pp.50-6