Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/290

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NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. L A PR. 9, 1910.

STATUES AND MEMORIALS IN THE

BRITISH ISLES. (See 10 S. xi. 441 ; xii. 51, 114, 181, 401.)

IN accordance with my promise at the last reference, I now supply the inscription which marks the Rufus Stone. The stone was restored by John Richard, Lord Dela- warr, in 1789, and having become much chipped and defaced, the present memorial, consisting of a hollow iron pillar, was erected over it in 1841 by William Sturges Bourne, Warden of the Forest.

The inscription on the front of the memorial is as follows :

Here stood

the oak tree

on which an arrow

shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell

at a stag

glanced and struck

King William

the Second.

surnamed Rufus

on the breast

of which he

instantly died

on the second

day of August

anno 1100.

Leeds, Yorkshire. An equestrian statue of Edward the Black Prince stands in the centre of the City Square. The Prince is represented in armour, with right arm extended. The sides of the pedestal con- tain bas-reliefs, one depicting a land battle and the other a naval fight, both of the period. On the front is fixed a plate con- taining the following :

" Edward, Prince of Wales, surnamed the Black Prince, the hero of Crecy and Poictiers, the flower of English Chivalry, the upholder of the Rights of the People in the Good Parliament, 1330-1376."

A similar plate at the opposite end bears the words :

''Gift of T. Walter Harding, Lord Mayor, 1898- 1899. Erected 1903."

The sculptor was Mr. Thomas Brock, R.A.

Eton College, Buckinghamshire. A statue of Henry VI., founder of the College, stands in the centre of the quadrangle. It was erected in 1719 at the cost of Henry Godolphin, Provost of Eton (1695-1732). The sculptor was Francis Bird, who was paid 100?. for the work. His receipt, dated 6 Oct., 1719, is in the British Museum (Add. MS. 28088, f. 174). On the pedestal is the following inscription :

Perenni Memorise

Pietissimi Principis Henrici Sexti

Angliae et Franciee Regis

et Hibernise Domini

Collegii Etonensis

Fundatoris Munificentissimi

Hanc Statuem Posuit

Henricus Godolphin

Eiusdem Collegii Prsepositus

Anno Domini MDCCXIX.

Leicester. When the old Bow Bridge,, which spanned the Soar at Leicester, was pulled down to make way for the present structure some fifty years ago, a stone was placed in the wall of an adjacent building to mark the site of the grave of Richard III. It was erected at the cost of Mr. Benjamin. Broadbent, a master builder of the town, and is thus inscribed : Near this spot

lie the Remains

of

Richard III. the Last

of the

Plantagenets 1485.

Upon the present bridge is also recorded the legendary story concerning the death of Richard.

An illustration depicting the old Bow Bridge and the memorial tablet in situ appeared in The Illustrated London News of 9 Feb. 1861. See also 7 S. xii. 68, 161, 238, 315 ; 8 S. i. 175.

Exeter. The old East Gate was de- molished in 1784, and the stones used to erect Nos. 266 and 267, High Street, adjacent to its site. A statue of Henry VII., which occupied a niche in the Gate, now stands on the front fa9ade of the buildings.

Amp thill, Bedfordshire. In Amp thill Park, formerly stood Ampthill Castle, the retreat of Katherine of Arragon during her trial (see Shakespeare's ' Henry VIII.,* Act IV. sc. i.). The site is marked by a stone cross, erected in 1774 by the Earl of Upper Ossory, and bearing an inscription written by Horace Walpole.

Exeter. In a niche in the south-west porch of St. Laurence Church is a statue of Queen Elizabeth. The figure formerly sur- mounted the old city conduit, and was removed to its present position when the conduit was demolished in 1834.

Portsmouth. In a niche in the face of the wall of the square tower beside the Platform is a gilded bust of Charles I. by Le Soeur. It faces the High Street, and over it is inscribed :