page_title: Blackfriars Bridge
section_title: Decorations
hierarchical_section_title: Blackfriars Bridge / Decorations
caption_attribution_description: English: Temperance - Statue - Blackfriars Bridge north end - London - England - 240404 According to: bob at speel.demon.co.uk: an excellent fountain, surmounted by a charming small statue of a graceful, lightly draped girl pouring from a pitcher. It is the work of Wills Bros. sculpt, working for the famous Coalbrookdale Iron Company. The girl is Temperance, and this fountain was presented in 1861 by no less than Samuel Gurney, founder of what later became the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain Cattle and Trough Association (see the page on Victorians and Water). It originally stood by the Royal Exchange, and came here in 1911. This is a photo of listed building number 1262674.
context_page_description: Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station. The south end is near the Tate Modern art gallery and the Oxo Tower.
context_section_description: On the piers of the bridge are stone carvings of water birds by sculptor John Birnie Philip. On the East (downstream) side (i.e. the side closer to the Thames Estuary and North Sea), the carvings show marine life and seabirds; those on the West (upstream) side show freshwater birds – reflecting the role of Blackfriars as the tidal turning point.
  On the north side of the bridge is a statue of Queen Victoria (funded by Sir Alfred Seale Haslam), to whom the bridge was dedicated.
  The ends of the bridge are shaped like a pulpit in a reference to Black Friars.
caption: Temperance, a statue atop a drinking water fountain at the north end of Blackfriars Bridge.
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