3-011-660 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The monument to the late Sir George Cornewall Lewis at New Radnor, [in Wales], 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. Barrar. 'The architect...is Mr. John Gibbs...From his design, and under his superintendence, the monument...has just been completed by Mr. Mansfield. It is...built mainly of Box ground stone. It is 77 ft. high by 25 ft. in width at the base, and is octagonal in form...in four recesses, divided by eight columns, stand, under richly-carved canopies, four allegorical figures...representing Justice, Truth, Oratory, and Literature. The next stage consists of red Mansfield stone, placed round an octagonal shaft, and decorated with the coats of arms of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, immediately over which are four large griffins grasping the arms of the Lewis family. An ornamental spire springing from this last stage, and having at the top a carved cross with a circle entwined in its centre, terminates the structure, the general effect of which will be best conceived by imagining a slender church steeple, richly decorated, and gracefully tapering, stage by stage, from a platform ascended by steps at its base...The figures have been sculptured by Mr. Forsyth...and the foliage and other carving by Mr. W. Stevens'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.