Temple Bar, St Paul's and Paternoster Column

Temple Bar was commissioned by King Charles II, and designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It is built of Portland stone and was constructed between 1669 and 1672.

On the upper part, four statues celebrate the Stuart monarchy: on the west side Charles II is shown with his father Charles I whose parents James I and Anne of Denmark are depicted on the east side. During the 18th century, the heads of traitors were mounted on pikes and exhibited on the roof.

It was discovered that the keystones had dropped in 1874. In 1878 the City of London Corporation, wanted to widen the road but unwilling to destroy so historic a monument, dismantled it piece-by-piece over an 11-day period and stored its 2,700 stones carefully.

In 1880 the brewer Henry Meux bought the stones and re-erected the arch as a gateway at his house, Theobalds Park in Hertfordshire.

In 1984, it was purchased by the Temple Bar Trust for £1. It was carefully dismantled and returned to the City of London, where it was painstakingly re-erected as an entrance to the Paternoster Square redevelopment north of St Paul's Cathedral.