The Temple Bar-Maid's Time Capsule

Temple Bar in 1895. Image: The Guildhall Library (Corporation of London)

In 2004, Temple Bar – the ancient western gateway to the City of London – was returned to the city as part of the redevelopment of Paternoster Square, next to St Paul’s Cathedral. It had languished at Theobald's Park in Hertfordshire having been removed from its original Fleet Street location towards the end of the 19th Century.

In June 1887, Sir Henry Meux had bought the monument, but Lady Valerie Meux was the driving force behind the purchase. On 25th November 1887, the removal of four hundred tons of stonework from London to Theobald's began.

Early in the New Year, on 12th January 1888, Valerie laid the foundation stone in the presence of a large number of locals.

Lady Meux was presented with a silver trowel, a mahogany mallet and a model of Temple Bar in oak. 

A glass jar containing newspapers and coins were deposited behind a stone. This glass jar was recovered in 2004 when Temple Bar was dismantled prior to its return to central London. On 7th September the final stone was in place. The work cost £12,000. A new gatekeeper’s lodge was added in 1889.

In February 2005, Oxford Archaeology published its report into Temple Bar (The Temple Bar, Hertfordshire. Report on the Archaeological Investigation of Temple Bar During its Dismantling).

This is the description of the time capsule: "Within stone C45, just above the plinth of the western pier of the central arch, a time capsule was discovered that had been deposited by those rebuilding the arch at Theobalds Park in 1889. The capsule was found within a neatly chiselled round hole cut into the centre of a large stone, number C45, the full width of the pier between the central and western arches.

"The time capsule was a large glass jar with a wooden stopper in the neck, although the jar had threads for a screw top. On close examination, however, the neck of the jar is not an even circle and it may never have worked with a screw top and always had a stopper. Contained within the time capsule were a copy of the Sporting Times from the week when the capsule was deposited, although it is difficult to read it is thought that the paper includes an account of the time capsule being put into the stone. There are six coins; an 1860 florin and undated halfpenny, an 1887 penny, 1886 shilling, 1885 sixpence and an 1876 half crown. There is also a piece of cardboard which may be a photograph, or the card backing of a photograph. Unfortunately, no image survived."

The time capsule jar and the stone in which it was found. Image: Oxford Archaeology

The time capsule jar and contents, but not the fragile newspaper. Image: Oxford Archaeology

American author, publisher, and book collector, Albert Edward Newton, visited Theobalds Park specifically to see Temple Bar at an unknown date, but before 1915.

In his book, Temple Bar Then and Now, (Daylesford, Pa. 1915), he wrote: “The gate does not span the road but is set back a little in a hedge on one side of it, and seems large for its setting. One is prepared for a dark, grimy portal, whereas the soot and smoke of London have been erased from it, and instead one sees an antique creamy-white structured tinted and toned with the green of the great trees which overhang it.”

He gained access and found the first signs of decay with a leaking roof and pools of water on the floor.

There was also a visitor’s book but no names had been added recently. “I glanced over it and a noticed a few well-known names; English names, not American, such as one usually finds, for I was far off the beaten track of a tourist,” he wrote, but did not mention specific names.

Imagine what that visitor’s book could add to our knowledge of life at Theobald’s Park.

In the video, Fascinating History of Temple Bar, Peter Murray, chairman of the Temple Bar Trust, which now manages the structure, talks about the history of the monument. At 22 minutes, Mr Murray recounts its time at Theobald’s Park.

Temple Bar Cheshunt and Theobalds 1990 shows the sad state the monument was in 1990.

The Return of Temple Bar to the City of London shows restoration work.

Temple Bar in Paternoster Square next to St Paul's Cathedral. Image: Paul Boughton