If you were to walk along Devonshire Square, midway between Aldgate and Liverpool Street stations, you will discover this statue of a Knight on horseback.
It is a wonderful piece that, although looking out of place among the office buildings, harks back to a bygone era for the area.
It was commissioned by Standard Life Insurance Company, designed by Denys Mitchell and unveiled in 1990.
The knight, depicted in armour, sitting atop a neighing horse is made from beaten bronze, with blue glass lenses in the horse's carapace.
This hollow statue stands on a slabbed granite base that has lights set into it. The base revolves periodically.
The Knights of Cnihtengild
The thirteen knights, or Cnihtengild (Knighten Guilde), were granted the land east of the Aldgate-Bishopsgate line by King Edgar the Peaceful, in the 10th century. The land which sits towards the north-eastern edge of the City, much of it lying outside the City walls, would continue to be passed down to the knights by successive monarchs. King Edward the Confessor reconfirmed the land as belonging to the knight's guild in a charter to the Bishop of London, Ælfweard, in 1042.
The sons of William the Conqueror, William II and Henry I, both issued charters that reaffirmed that the land belonged to the knights.
In 1108, Henry I's wife, Queen Matilda, established the Holy Trinity Priory at Aldgate and a few years later, in1125, it is said that the knights lay their charters on the priory's altar and, voluntarily, donated their land to it.
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