Eleanor Coade (alternatively Elinor Coade) (1733 - 1821) (when she went into business, to be respectable she followed the normal practice of the day and called herself 'Mrs Coade', although unmarried) is famous for inventing and manufacturing Coade stone: a spectacularly durable cement-like building material which still looks new even today. She was a resident of Lyme Regis, in Dorset, England. She took over Belmont House, Lyme Regis, from her uncle, in 1784, which later became the home of author John Fowles (1926 - 2005). She had a great deal of ornate Coade stone work done on the house. The house and its decorative work can still be seen, up Pound Street, near its junction with Cobb Road.The house is now in the care of the Landmark Trust. | One easily seen example of its use is the statue of the Lion at the south end of Westminster Bridge in central London. This was the icon on the old Red Lion Brewery, that existed on the Lambeth bank of the River Thames. The statue was removed from on top of the brewery when it was demolished in 1950 to make way for the South Bank Site of the Festival of Britain in 1951. The Lion was placed at street level for all to see. When it was removed, the initials of the sculptor and the date, 24 May 1837, were discovered under one of its paws. From the photograph, it can be seen that the fine details still remain even after 170 years of London's corrosive atmosphere, which was caused by the heavy use of coal throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The red paint was removed from the surface of the lion so that the Coade stone could be seen easily. |
