The Wandering Obelisk

Situated at the south end of Blackfriars Road, I first became familiar with St George’s Circus when I started work for the South Centre Area of Post Office Telecommunications, the General Manager’s Office of which was situated there in Erlang House. It was also at this time that I first saw the Obelisk standing in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum, not far away, where it had been moved from St George’s Circus in 1905 to make way for a clock tower. The clock tower too, however, had long vacated the circus by the time I was travelling through the junction, leaving a bland traffic island.

The Obelisk had been erected at St George’s Circus in 1771 following the construction of Blackfriars Bridge and approach road in the 1760s. The Blackfriars Bridge committee had ordered that, “an Obelisk should be placed in the middle of the circus at the road junction in the fields”.

The area, once known as St George’s Fields was naturally swampy ground and had been used mainly for pasture, and cloth dyeing and bleaching. This can be seen on old maps of the area, which show the “Tenter Grounds” as taking up huge areas around what is now Blackfriars Road. (Tenter grounds were where the tenters stood, frames upon which cloth was stretched and dried after treatment. Attached by means of Tenter Hooks – which we have all, proverbially, been on from time to time)

Some sources say that the Obelisk was put up in the Mayoralty of Brass Crosby to his honour, though I have found no original source which states this. The inscription on the obelisk only says who was King and Lord Mayor, which was certainly Crosby, at the time.

However it is interesting to relate Brass Crosby’s claims to fame, as prior to researching this article I, for one, was unaware of who he was, yet he was instrumental in improving our civil liberties.

Born in Stockton-on Tees in 1725 he qualified in law and came to London to practice. He was elected to the City Council in 1758 and then held the offices of Sheriff, Alderman and MP until, in 1770, he was elected Lord Mayor of London. As Chief Magistrate one of his first acts was to refuse the issuing of warrants for press gangs, and subsequently ordered constables to prevent the seizure of men.

His biggest battle however was with the House of Commons, when in 1771 he released a printer who was brought before him for daring to publish reports of Parliamentary proceedings. Crosby was subsequently ordered to appear before the House to explain his actions and was committed to the Tower of London. Following several public rallies in support of his stand however, Crosby was released six weeks later. A jubilant procession accompanied him from the Tower to the Mansion House. It is from this event that we got the phrase “Bold as Brass” to mean somebody who is forthright and stands up for themselves. No further attempts have ever been made to prevent the publication of Parliamentary debates.

Brass retired to Chelsfield in Kent where he lived until he death in 1793, today a Blue Plaque marks where he lived, though that is little more revealing than the inscription on our Obelisk.

Milestone or Memorial today the Obelisk stands again in St George's Circus, where it was returned in 1998 having been cleaned up and repaired. Disregarded by many on their way to work it is older than anything around it, and acts as a reminder of our history.

Laurie Smith