South Bank Lion
London England
2012

This magnificent beast, standing proudly at the South end of Westminster bridge, has a fascinating history. The lion once stood on the roof of the Lion Brewery, located where royal festival hall is now, from 1837 to 1949, when it was demolished.

He is made out of Coade stone- a special ‘artificial stone’ recipe made by Eleanor Coade who had her workshop on the Southbank. It was used frequently in the late 18th and early 19th century due to its durability and frost-resistance. The Coade Artificial Stone Company was eventually wound up in 1840 when artificial stone went out of fashion and having lost the brilliant Eleanor in 1821. The Coade stone lions for the Lion brewery were in fact the last items to be produced in coade stone.

The lion was nearly demolished with the brewery but thankfully King George VI stepped in to save this icon of the South Bank.


For a lion that weighs around 13 tonnes, the Westminster Bridge lion has been around a bit.

It started its leonine life on top of the Lion Brewery, which sat on South Bank until it was demolished in 1949 to make way for the Royal Festival Hall.

The lion then took up residence near Waterloo Station, at the entrance to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Here it was painted red, and stayed put until 1966, when it was stripped of the red paint and moved to its current location.

When it was removed from the brewery, the initials of the sculptor William Frederick Woodington and the date, 24 May 1837 were found engraved under one of its paws.

The statue was given a Grade II* listing by English Heritage in 1981.

This lion was one of two that were salvaged from the Lion Brewery, known collectively as the Coade Stone Lions. The other stands near the Rowland Hill Memorial Gate at Twickenham Stadium.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bank_Lion

The South Bank Lion is an 1837 sculpture in Central London. Since 1966 it has stood next to County Hall, on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is a significant depiction of a lion, along with the four that surround Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square just across the river.
The statue is about 13 feet (4.0 m) long and 12 feet (3.7 m) high, and weighs about 13 tonnes (14 tons). It was cast in 1837, the year of Queen Victoria's accession, of Coade stone, one of the earliest types of artificial stone. The material is very resistant to weathering, and the fine details of the lion's modelling still remain clear after decades of exposure to the corrosive effects of London's severe air pollution, the infamous pea soup fog, prior to the passage of the Clean Air Act 1956. The statue was made in separate parts and cramped together on an iron frame. It was formerly known as the Red Lion, as it was painted that colour between 1951 and 1966.

The lion was originally mounted on the parapet of James Goding's Lion Brewery on the Lambeth bank of the River Thames; Hungerford Bridge spanned the Thames nearby from 1845. The Lion Brewery closed in 1924 and the building was demolished in 1949, to make way for construction of the Royal Festival Hall as part of the Festival of Britain. The lion was removed, revealing the initials of the sculptor William Frederick Woodington and the date, 24 May 1837, under one of its paws. It was painted red as the symbol of British Rail, and mounted on high plinth beside the entrance to the Festival of Britain near Waterloo station.

The statue was moved in 1966 to allow the station to be extended. The red paint was removed, and the statue was erected in its current location on a large granite plinth at the east end of Westminster Bridge, to the north side, beside County Hall. The plinth bears the inscription "The South Bank Lion". The statue was given a Grade II* listing by English Heritage in 1981.