Statue of Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell stands in bronze outside the House of Commons in Westminster, facing the Thames. The statue looks across Parliament Square to St Margaret’s Church, where a bust of Charles I is set into the wall. It is one of five public statues of Cromwell in the United Kingdom and carries Grade II listing for its craftsmanship. The bronze figure was designed by Hamo Thornycroft and unveiled in 1899 after years of debate. In 1856 John George Phillimore argued in the Commons that opposition to such a statue showed only bigotry. Herbert Gladstone later approved the work, funded by an anonymous donor, and Lord Rosebery delivered the unveiling speech. Cromwell holds a sword in his right hand and a 1641 Bible in his left, while a lion crouches on the plinth. After a century of grime and black wax, conservation in 2008 restored the bronze to its natural brown finish. The statue remains a point of contention, yet it stands where the sunken garden meets Westminster Hall, watched by passers-by each day.