There is a nice, possibly serendipitous, juxtaposition here. The statue of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), Lord Protector of England from 1853 until his death, is outside Westminster Hall (where the sovereign's courts had dispensed justice since the 12th century). It was Cromwell, his army and the members of the Commons that they allowed to meet together (which was not the majority) who arranged the show trial of Charles I (1600-49) in the hall immediately before his execution. Cromwell faces, across the road, the east end of Saint Margaret's Church, though his eyes are downcast. The church has been used by the House of Commons since puritanical members decided to take communion here, rather than in the Abbey, in 1614. In a niche on the church wall is a bust of Charles who looks directly at the replacement.

O/S Co-ords:3018.7955
Source(s):

Chambers Biographical Dictionary

The King's England London: The City and Westminster