"When the lions drink, London will sink."

One of the fully accessible lions.

If you walk along the Victoria Embankment you, like many others, will quite possibly have missed the large bronze lion heads that adorn the embankment walls, as they face the River Thames.

They were commissioned by Joseph Bazalgette to line the Albert and Victoria Embankments as part of the Victorian sewage system he had engineered. They were sculpted by Timothy Butler, between 1868–1870, who added mooring rings to each lion's mouth. 

Although this was more of a nod to the river, barges and boats would use them when mooring along the river. As the water levels changed and mooring points moved on, the lions eventually lost this role and were no more than redundant features on the river wall.  

However, they still maintained their original function, which was to indicate high tide levels and act as flood warnings. They are, very occasionally, submerged during the high tides of the Spring and Autumn.

They are often associated with the warning:

"When the Lions drink, London will sink.

When it’s up to their manes, we’ll go down the drains

When the water is sucked, we’re all… doomed"

The, "lions drinking," refers to the water reaching their mouths, signalling potential, but not guaranteed, flooding.

As they face the river you have to lean over the embankment wall, or view them from the River Thames. But, now, some of these iconic lion heads have been made accessible to all.

With the completion of the Tideway Tunnel the lions, at Blackfriars, are now visible to anyone visiting the new public realm called Bazalgette Embankment.

They have been meticulously restored and relocated and made a part of the new open space, allowing visitors to marvel at their size and interact with these bronze icons.

One of these lions has even been named. As a tribute to one of the members of the Tideway Tunnel team, who had a baby son, who they named Rory, the executives named the main lion 'Roary'.

‘Roary’ was officially unveiled during a visit to site by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Alastair King.