Statue Of The Black Prince

SE2933SE 714-1/77/108 26/09/63

LEEDS CITY SQUARE Statue of The Black Prince

GV II*

Equestrian statue. Erected 1903. T Brock, sculptor. 2-stage plinth of polished granite, bronze plaques and statue. Bronzework details include: band around plinth base with relief moulding of lion masks and scrolls with the names: 'JOHN WICLIF/ JOHN CHANDOS/ SIR WALTER DE MAUNAY/ WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM/ CHAUCER/ FROISSART/ JACOB VAN ARTEVELDE/ BERTRAND DU GUESCLIN'. On the die the front plaque has the words: 'EDWARD/ PRINCE OF WALES/ SURNAMED THE BLACK PRINCE/ THE HERO OF/ CRECY AND POITIERS/ THE FLOWER OF ENGLAND'S CHIVALRY/ THE UPHOLDER OF THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE/ IN THE/ GOOD PARLIAMENT/1330-1376'; on the rear: 'THE GIFT OF/ T. WALTER HARDING/ LORD MAYOR/ 1898-1899/ ERECTED/ 1903/ T.BROCK RA Sc.' Plaques on each side of the die depict a land and a sea battle. Deep moulded cornice surmounted by an over life-size mounted figure in full armour. HISTORICAL NOTE: Colonel T Walter Harding was the owner of the Tower Works, Globe Road (qv) manufacturing steel pins for carding; he initiated the laying-out of City Square, designed by William Bakewell and completed 1902, the year of Edward VII's coronation and the end of the Boer War. This statue is almost certainly a tribute to Edward VII who, as Prince of Wales, opened the General Infirmary in 1867 and the Yorkshire College buildings in 1885, (as king he opened the first new Leeds University buildings in 1908). The association of Edward VII with 'the successful efforts of generations of West Yorkshiremen to establish the highest form of education in the region, especially the sciences and arts related to the major local industries' (Linstrum p.237) is represented by the names of contemporaries of the Black Prince (d.1376), who were outstanding politicians, diplomats, churchmen and founders of colleges and schools. (Linstrum, D: West Yorkshire Architects and Architecture: 1978-: 237, 352).

Listing NGR: SE2989933435