Black Bull statue

The Black Bull statue was commissioned in 1824 by the owner of the Black Bull in Holborn, a 17th century coaching inn once lying between Hatton Garden & Leather Lane. It was sculpted in 1825 by Obadiah Pulham from Woodbridge in Suffolk, out of Portland Stone Cement – a material invented in Woodbridge by J. & W. Lockwood and identical in appearance to Portland stone but extremely hard wearing and cheaper to produce. The statue is a classical figure of a bull – two-thirds life-size – in a spirited pose known as bos cornupeta – a bull butting with his horns and raising a forefoot. Its horns and hooves and the belt around it were gilded.

The completed statue travelled to London via barge and was erected up high above the inn entrance. The Black Bull inn was prominent and popular in Holborn – mentioned by Dickens – and the bull became a well-known landmark. By 1900 however, the inn had dilapidated and it was demolished in 1904 to build a department store. The closure of the inn made international news with the New York Times reporting, on May 20, 1904: “The old Black Bull of Holborn was lowered from his perch yesterday, and his retirement from public life marked the demolition of the famous old London inn that bore his name.”

First rescued by Sir Charles Hamilton and moved to Cambridgeshire, the statue was acquired in 1918 by Hamilton’s friend Sir William Bull, MP for Hammersmith. A lawyer and energetic politician who lobbied for numerous causes including a tunnel under the Channel and for Women’s Suffrage, he was a supporter of sculpture and known for personal toughness – he would even fight hecklers on the political trail. In 1918 he was keen to shore up support in his new seat and the bull was a perfect mascot. The statue was transported by train to London in 1918 and hung outside his Hammersmith office. In 1962 the office was demolished and the bull moved again to King Street, outside the Ravenscourt pub, then renamed the Black Bull pub. The statue received Grade II listing in 1970. The Black Bull pub is due to reopen in 2026.

Large areas of the surface of the state are pitted with numerous cracks all over the statue and loose looking pieces of stone. The stone cement surface is covered with flaking paint with loss of paint all over. The iron plaque is showing signs of rust behind the layers of paint and the pebbles surrounding the pedestal are missing most of their cement pointing and have lost pebbles.

The restoration project will involve repairs to the statue, repainting and re-gilding the horns and hooves.