Cleaning the historic King William III statue

On 16 September we had the pleasure of cleaning the historic King William III (William of orange) statue in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard. The statue which is in the Porters’ Garden was given to the Commissioner of the Dockyard (Sir William Townsend) by Richard Norton, who was the grandson and heir of Colonel Richard Norton. 

The statue was cast in lead to the design of John Van Nost the Elder of London and finished with a covering of double gold leaf; mounted on a polished white marble plinth The Commissioner set up the statue in front of the new terrace (Long Row) in the middle of the Offal Ground now the site of Victory Building and surrounded it with an ornamental wrought-iron railing with Royal Crowns on the corners. The statue was transported to London in 1967 to be restored and returned to the dockyard in 1968. It can be viewed as part of a visit to Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard.

You can find more information about the statue on the following link https://portsmouthdockyard.org.uk/timeline/details/1718-statue-of-king-william-iii