24-637: 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
48-606: A 2001 population of 1,525,000. The sub-region was replaced in 2008 with a new structure which amalgamated inner and outer boroughs together. This was altered in 2011 when a new Central London sub-region was created, now including the City of London and excluding Wandsworth. The 1901 Census defined Central London as the City of London and the metropolitan boroughs (subdivisions that existed from 1900 to 1965) of Bermondsey , Bethnal Green , Finsbury , Holborn , Shoreditch , Southwark , Stepney , St Marylebone and Westminster . During
72-536: A high-density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally, nationally and internationally significant organisations and facilities. Road distances to London are traditionally measured from a central point at Charing Cross (in the City of Westminster ), which is marked by the statue of King Charles I at the junction of the Strand , Whitehall and Cockspur Street , just south of Trafalgar Square . The central area
96-648: A second brewery site on the south side of Belvedere Road, on the corner of Sutton Walk. It was presented to the Rugby Football Union in 1971, its centenary season, by the Greater London Council and unveiled in 1972. It is now located above the central pillar of the Rowland Hill Memorial Gate (Gate 3) to the west of Twickenham Stadium . It was covered in gold leaf when England hosted the 1991 Rugby World Cup . The Lion Brewery also had
120-532: A third Coade stone lion, over the arched entrance to the south of the main brewery site, on the north side of the Belvedere Road. It was present in 1930, but was missing for some years before the brewery was demolished, and is believed to have been destroyed. A recumbent Coade stone lion, made in 1821 to a different design by Thomas Hardwick for King George IV , is mounted above the Lion Gate at Kew Gardens . It
144-520: A verse very similar to the first stanza of the modern rhyme. This seems to have grown to include several other verses. Apart from those above only one survives: This rhyme was played upon by Lewis Carroll , who incorporated the lion and the unicorn as characters in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass . Here, the crown they are fighting for belongs to the White King which, given that they are on
168-748: Is distinguished, according to the Royal Commission , by the inclusion within its boundaries of Parliament and the Royal Palaces, the headquarters of Government, the Law Courts , the head offices of a very large number of commercial and industrial firms, as well as institutions of great influence in the intellectual life of the nation such as the British Museum , the National Gallery , the Tate Gallery ,
192-613: Is partnered by a unicorn of the same material, which surmounts the corresponding gate. The Lion and the Unicorn were traditional symbols of England and Scotland respectively. Central London Central London is the innermost part of London , in England , spanning the City of London and several boroughs . Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteristics are understood to include
216-731: The Herbert Commission and the subsequent passage of the London Government Bill , three unsuccessful attempts were made to define an area that would form a central London borough . The first two were detailed in the 1959 Memorandum of Evidence of the Greater London Group of the London School of Economics . "Scheme A" envisaged a central London borough, one of 25, consisting of the City of London, Westminster, Holborn, Finsbury and
240-600: 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
264-571: The University of London , the headquarters of the national ballet and opera, together with the headquarters of many national associations, the great professions, the trade unions, the trade associations, social service societies, as well as shopping centres and centres of entertainment which attract people from the whole of Greater London and farther afield. In many other respects the central area differs from areas farther out in London. The rateable value of
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#1732851807068288-480: The 1961 census. It consisted of the City of London, all of Westminster, Holborn and Finsbury; and the inner parts of Shoreditch, Stepney, Bermondsey, Southwark, Lambeth, Chelsea, Kensington, Paddington, St Marylebone and St Pancras. The population was estimated to be 270,000. 51°30′N 0°08′W / 51.50°N 0.13°W / 51.50; -0.13 The Lion and the Unicorn The Lion and
312-495: The 1970s. It was moved to Cambridge, where it was displayed at the new Lion Yard shopping centre, which had been named after a pub at that location. From 1999 the statue was kept in storage until late 2014, when it was moved to Cambridge University Rugby Club 's ground on Grange Road, Cambridge . A second, similar Coade stone lion was removed from the Lion Brewery when it was demolished. It stood on an arched gateway leading to
336-500: The City of London, most of Westminster and the inner parts of Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lambeth, Kensington & Chelsea and Wandsworth. It is described as "a unique cluster of vitally important activities including central government offices, headquarters and embassies, the largest concentration of London's financial and business services sector and the offices of trade, professional bodies, institutions, associations, communications, publishing, advertising and
360-470: The City of London, the whole of Finsbury and Holborn, most of Westminster and Southwark, parts of St Pancras, St Marylebone, Paddington and a small part of Kensington. The area had an estimated population of 400,000 and occupied 8,000 acres (32 km ). During the passage of the London Government Bill an amendment was put forward to create a central borough corresponding to the definition used at
384-482: The Unicorn are symbols of the United Kingdom. They are, properly speaking, heraldic supporters appearing in the full royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom . The lion stands for England and the unicorn for Scotland. The combination therefore dates back to the 1603 accession of James I of England who was already James VI of Scotland . By extension, they are also used in the arms of Newfoundland since 1637,
408-520: The White side as well, makes their rivalry all the more absurd. Carroll subverts the traditional view of a lion being alert and calculating by making this particular one slow and rather stupid, although clearly the better fighter. The role of the Unicorn is likewise reversed (or mirrored, as in a looking-glass) by the fact that he sees Alice as a "monster", though he promises to start believing in her if she will believe in him. Sir John Tenniel 's illustrations for
432-464: The arms of Hanover between 1837–1866, and the arms of Canada since 1921. The traditional legend of enmity between the two heraldic animals is recorded in a nursery rhyme which has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20170. It is usually given with the lyrics: The legend of the two animals may have been intensified by the Acts of Union 1707 and it was one year later that William King (1663–1712) recorded
456-545: The central area is exceptionally high. Its day population is very much larger than its night population. Its traffic problems reach an intensity not encountered anywhere else in the Metropolis or in any provincial city, and the enormous office developments which have taken place recently constitute a totally new phenomenon. Starting in 2004, the London Plan defined a 'Central Activities Zone' policy area, which as of 2008 comprised
480-503: The inner parts of St Marylebone, St Pancras, Chelsea, Southwark and Lambeth. The boundary deviated from existing lines to include all central London railway stations , the Tower of London and the museums, such that it included small parts of Kensington, Shoreditch, Stepney and Bermondsey. It had an estimated population of 350,000 and occupied 7,000 acres (28 km ). "Scheme B" delineated central London, as one of 7 boroughs, including most of
504-480: The media". For strategic planning, since 2011 there has been a Central London sub-region comprising the boroughs of Camden , Islington , Kensington and Chelsea , Lambeth , Southwark , Westminster and the City of London . From 2004 to 2008, the London Plan included a sub-region called Central London comprising Camden, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth and Westminster. It had
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#1732851807068528-468: 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
552-649: 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
576-463: 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. The prototype for the Lion Brewery statue was made in wood, and was rediscovered in Woburn, Bedfordshire in
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