Week 31 – 43. Solitary

March 10, 2015 by Trudie Callan 6 Comments

This is Queen Anne, a gilded statue on the roof of Kingston’s Market House. The Market House stands in the Ancient Market Place. The building is a Grade II listed building dating back to 1840, although a previous timber construction has stood in this location since 1505. The statue of Queen Anne was sculpted by Francis Bird when the original timber building was restored by 1714. When the present building was rebuilt in 1840, the statue of Queen Anne was retained for this building. The Market House was used as the Town Hall until 1935 when the present Guildhall was built. Since then it has been known as the Market House due to the surrounding market. It houses the Market House Exhibition Gallery today. The statue has been re-gilded several times.

I mistakenly thought it was Queen Victoria until I looked up its history for this blog. I have chosen her for this theme as she stands out alone in all her gilded splendour.