bar scale of 2/15 inch to 10 feet

N^o 9, labelled: The / River / of / Thames, Westminster Stairs, The Stable, The new Palace Yard, First troop of horse Guards, 3^d Troop horse Guards, The first Regiment of his Maj^ies Guards Foot, First troop of Granadiers (sic), Channel Row, Foot Granadiers, 3^d Troop of / Granadiers, King Street, Bell Alley, Bow Street, The little Sanctuary, Foot Granadiers, S^t Margaretts Yard, Exchequer / Yard, Fish / Yard, Westminster / Hall, Exchequer / Yard, House of / Commons, Court of / Wards, Court / of / Requests, the / Painted Chamber, The / House / of / Lords, Princes / Lodging, Parliament / Stairs, Old Palace / Yard, The Kings School, Cloysters, Westminster Abby (sic), S^t Margaretts Church, The Church Yard, Foot Granadiers, 2^d Troop of Granadiers, Second Regim^t Foot Guards, The Great Sanctuary, The 2^d Troop of Horse Guards, The Second Regim^t of Foot Guards, The / Deanery, Deans Yard, The great Armory, The old Gatehouse, Tuthill (sic) Street

Pen and brown ink over pencil, with some pencil additions, and with pink, green (for processional route) and grey washes; heavily pricked through for transfer; on laid paper, with irregular 40 mm tear at bottom left; 320 x 500

Unidentified Office of Works hand

IHS / I VILLEDARY

The coronation event began in Westminster Hall, where the king and queen were presented with the regalia before the procession to the Abbey for the ceremony. This plan appears to be a copy of a plate in Sandford's History of the Coronation of... James II, inscribed: "A Groundplot of part of the Citty of Westminster / Containing Westminster Abby (or the Collegiate Church of St Peter) / Westminster Hall, The Court of Wards, Court of Requests, Painted / Chamber, House of Lords and Prince's Lodgings, The Old & New Palace / Yard, The Great Sanctuary and Several other places adjacent // But more particularly The Way from the Hall to the Church / as it was spread with Cloth and Railed in, and the Several Stations / in which His Majesties Troops of Horse and Regiments of Foot Guards / were posted on both sides the said Rail, / on the Day of the Coronation." By the time of George IV's coronation the topography of Westminster had changed substantially.

The drawing has a terminus antequem of c.1719-22 thanks to the addition in pencil of a row of square piers to the east (left) of the Court of Requests. This is the 'passage gallery', the construction of which was under consideration in the period 1719-22. Construction of the gallery was begun in 1722. The pencil additions could, of course, postdate the drawing itself. However, the handwriting style, scale bar and watermark (IHS VILLEDARY) are characteristic of the early eighteenth century.

I am grateful to Gordon Higgott for various helpful comments about this drawing.

Drawing

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

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