Alfred the Great Statue

The statue you see in the center of Trinity Church Square is a historical chimera. While it has long been celebrated as one of the oldest outdoor statues in London, recent scientific analysis revealed that it is actually a composite of two very different figures. The lower half of the statue is a fragment of a Roman-era sculpture from the second century, which experts have identified as the legs of the goddess Minerva. During the nineteenth century, an unknown sculptor took this ancient Bath stone fragment and attached a new, upper half to it, fashioned from Coade stone. Coade stone is a durable ceramic material that was highly popular for architectural ornaments in the early nineteenth century. This combination was likely a matter of convenience, as the Roman remnant was repurposed to support the new depiction of King Alfred the Great. The statue has stood here since at least 1826, serving as an accidental monument that bridges ancient Roman history with the nineteenth-century city.