Gone but not forgotten

This is the plaque that marks the site of Temple Bar when it was the gateway to Theobald's Park, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire. It can be seen on the right just before the security gate to the estate.

Temple Bar was the gateway to the City of London for 200 years. The heads of traitors were displayed on iron spikes on the top of the arch. In January 1878, work began on dismantling the monument. Ten years later, Lady Valerie Meux decided it would make a grand front gate for her mansion at Theobald Park, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire. Her obliging husband, Henry, stumped up the cash.

Some 2,500 stones, weighing 400 tons, were taken from central London to Hertfordshire. Eight months later, a garden party was held to celebrate the completion of rebuilding the monument. The central arch was used as a dining room. Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, and Winston Churchill are said to have dined there.

By the 1970s, Temple Bar was in bad disrepair and it was decided to bring the monument back to London. It was rebuilt at Paternoster Square, next to St Paul's Cathedral and opened on 10th November 2004.

It is quite difficult to read the plaque now, but I think it says:

"This plaque marks the site of Temple Bar designed by Sir Christopher Wren,

the only surviving gateway to the City of London,

which Sir Henry Meux had acquired and had re-erected on this site as the entrance to his park and mansion house in 1888.

In 1976 Sir Hugh Wontner formed the Temple Bar Trust

with the intended wish of returning Temple Bar

to the City of London from Theobalds Park

and in 2002 the Corporation of London took over the

project to complete the return

of Temple Bar to the City,

where it was formally opened on 10 November 2004

by the Lord Mayor of the City of London,

Alderman Robert Finch.

Temple Bar can now be seen as the entrance

to the new Paternoster Square

near to St Paul’s Cathedral London EC4"

The Temple Bar-Maid's Time Capsule