Long thought to be London’s oldest outdoor statue, this depiction of Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great is actually only half himself. Originally thought to be one statue dating from the 14th century, the upper half, depicting Alfred, was in fact created in the late 18th century. The lower half however is around 1,200 years older than expected, dating back to the second century, during the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian. During conservation work in 2021, it was discovered that the statue has the legs of the Romano-Briton goddess of handicraft, the…
