Inns of Court

	ITEM NO: 12-007 PRICE: CAN$ 1800.00 COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK
DESCRIPTION
"The Temple Bar was built between 1669 and 1672 and originally stood at the confluence of The Strand and Fleet Street, one of eight arched entrances to the City of Westminster. The first bars were literally ways of barring the road, posts and chains put in place at the consent of Henry VII to protect the growing prosperity of the City. The bars represent the dividing line between the Royal City of Westminster and the city of London, the City of London being the centre of finance and trade. By the mid-fourteenth century the posts and chains had been replaced with bars of timber, these in turn being replaced by wooden gates. The Temple Bar arch was built following the destruction of the wooden gates in the Great Fire of London. The main arch is 19 feet high and contains a single room with a smaller pedestrian arch on each side. The statues in the niches of the upper storey portray Queen Anne and James I on the East side, Charles i and Charles II on the West. A lion and a unicorn support the Royal Coat of Arms, a griffin and wyvern the London Coat of Arms. Limited edition."