Campaigners raised £380,000 to move the poet from Hyde Park Corner to a new garden spot near Victoria Gate.
Lord Byron is back in Hyde Park. The poet’s statue, stranded for decades on a roundabout at Hyde Park Corner, has been moved into the park itself after a long campaign by his admirers.
It was first put up close to Hyde Park Corner in 1880. During the 1960s a section of the park was lost to Park Lane, and Byron ended up alone in the middle of a new roundabout.
Freeing him took years. Geoffrey Bond, a Byron supporter, first tried around 15 years ago. Westminster Council warned him the move would be costly, complicated and slow, involving many agencies and many formal consents.
A few years ago the Byron Society joined the present Lord Byron in a fresh attempt, aiming to finish by 2024, 200 years after the poet died. Royal Parks policy ruling out new statues in Hyde Park held them up at first. That obstacle fell away when someone argued the statue was already in the park, and it was the park that had moved away from it.
The project ran later than planned, but £380,000 was eventually raised. The National Lottery Heritage Fund put in £230,000. The Elma Dangerfield Trust and the John Murray Family also gave money, as did Trinity College Cambridge. Heritage of London Trust contributed with backing from the Jones Day Foundation, and many individual donors chipped in. The restoration work was carried out by PAYE Stonework and Restoration.
The Duke of Gloucester attended the unveiling. He is president of the Public Statues and Sculpture Association, and he said he had struggled to get a proper look at Byron in the old spot while illustrating a book about the capital’s statues. In the new setting, he said, people will wonder “Who the hell is that, and why is he there?” and then go and find out.
The statue now stands close to Victoria Gate, on the north side of Hyde Park. Lancaster Gate Tube station is only a few minutes away on foot. A new sign beside the statue gives visitors more background on the poet.
Royal Parks plans to relandscape the garden around it in a Mediterranean style. That kind of planting copes better in heatwaves, and it echoes the landscape Byron knew from his time in Greece.
Close to Victoria Gate on the north side of Hyde Park. Lancaster Gate Tube station is a few minutes away on foot.
It was put up near Hyde Park Corner in 1880, but in the 1960s Park Lane took a section of the park and left the statue on a roundabout.
£380,000. The National Lottery Heritage Fund gave £230,000, and trusts, organisations and individual donors covered the rest.
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