Queen Victoria in the Castle square - geograph

The Statue of Queen Victoria stands in front of

Chester Crown Court Chester Crown Court is a judicial facility at Castle Square in Chester, Cheshire, England. The building, which forms part of a series of imposing buildings at Chester Castle, is a Grade I listed building. History The current building replaced a p ...

in the forecourt of

Chester Castle Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls. The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the River Dee. In the castle complex are the remaining par ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. It was unveiled in 1903, the sculptor was

Frederick William Pomeroy Frederick William Pomeroy (9 October 1856 – 26 May 1924) was a prolific British sculptor of architectural and monumental works. He became a leading sculptor in the New Sculpture movement, a group distinguished by a stylistic turn towards na ...

, and the statue is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The money for the statue was raised by public subscription, with about one-third being raised in the city of Chester, and the remaining amount from elsewhere in the county. Its total cost was £1,360 (equivalent to £ as of ), excluding the cost of the foundations. Frederick William Pomeroy was selected to be the sculptor; he had recently created the

effigy An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...

of the

Duke of Westminster Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ...

Chester Cathedral Chester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint ...

. The bronze statue was made in the foundry of Hollinshead and Burton in

Thames Ditton Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred south-west of Charing Cross in central London. Thame ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. The designer of the stonework was Harry Beswick, and the stonemasons were Haswell and Sons of Chester. The statue was unveiled on 17 October 1903 by

Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton (17 January 1832 – 16 March 1909) was an English Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician from the Egerton family. He sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons fro ...

Description

The statue is in bronze, and depicts

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

standing, and holding the orb and

sceptre A sceptre (or scepter in American English) is a Staff of office, staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of regalia, royal or imperial insignia, signifying Sovereignty, sovereign authority. Antiquity Ancient Egypt and M ...

. The Queen is dressed in coronation robes, wearing a lace head-dress and the Imperial crown. The figure stands on a

pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

of Stancliffe stone and a base of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

. The figure is about high, and the pedestal is about in height. On the sides of the pedestal are the arms of the city and the county. On the north side of the granite base is an inscription in lead reading as follows. In

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

, around the sides of the pedestal, is an inscription reading as follows. On the west base of the statue is the signature of the sculptor, reading "FW POMEROY / SCULPTOR. 1903". The statue was designated as a Grade II listed building on 26 February 1985. Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing and is applied to "buildings of national importance and special interest".

References

{{coord, 53.18603, -2.89232, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1903 sculptures Bronze sculptures in England Buildings and structures completed in 1903 Statue of Queen Victoria Grade II listed buildings in Chester Victoria, Chester Monuments and memorials in Cheshire

Victoria, Chester

History

Description

See also

References