Construction drawing for the capping, ball and cross of the lantern

WRE/5/3/11

April to November 1708

Sir Christopher (1632–1723) Wren, William (1671–1725) Dickinson

Pen and brown ink over incised lines and pencil under-drawing, with additions and shading in pencil; red sealing wax at top left-hand corner of main sheet. Laid paper. 48.7 x 37.0 cm, on brown paper mount, 53.3 x 42.0 cm. Watermark: Strasbourg lily / 4 / LVG

Construction drawing for the uppermost parts of the lantern, very nearly as built. Dated April, June and November 1708. Drawn by Dickinson. Drawn scale, 2 ft to 1 inch. On the left is an elevation over a superimposed half-plan of an octagonal cap (in dotted outline); left of this, plan of the bracket support to the ball at lower and upper levels; on the right, a cross-section showing wood and iron construction. This rare construction drawing, dated by Dickinson ‘Ap : 26 : 1708’ at the top right-hand edge, would have been needed to inform the contract agreed with Andrew Niblett on 14 May 1708 for the copper work of the lantern, for which he was paid in October that year (Wren Society 16, p.31, and 15, p.169). It shows the lantern very nearly as built (see Poley 1927, pl.VI). Small changes in construction include the omission of the panelling on the outer dome. This part of the lantern was probably begun after ‘June 29 th : 1708’, the date inscribed against the plinth on the right-hand side of the sheet. Dickinson’s many notes give the diameters (‘Diamr’) and widths of the shell and internal structure, and the dimensions of the external cladding and ‘hoope[s]’ of iron. The longer notes include: (top) ’10 f Diamr beside ye Nutts / 16 Screws of Iron’; (centre left) 5’ & ½ broad / ye screws to ye top of ye scrowles goe through’; and on right side several calculations, accompanied by notes: ‘277 Copper screws in all’, ‘Standing Measur: 26 : 10 ½’, ’26 : 11 ½ high.’ Reverse: Inscribed by Dickinson at top left in brown ink: ‘Novr: 16th: 1708 / Estimac[i]on : of Gilding the Capp of the Lantern / 4 front pannels / girt up & downe 9 : 6 / at a Mediun / 6 : 9 } 255. 6 / 4 Angle panells / 9 : 6 / 4 : 0 } 152 : 0 / Gt Moulding at top at ye fot of the plinth of ye Copper worke / round abt 24 : 0 / girt 3 : 6 } 84 : 0 / [total:] 496 : 6 / at 6s ye fo.t at 8d p fo.t is £196 : 8 : 0 / 2946 / [+] 3 / [=] 2949 / £147 : 9 : 0’.

Access to the Wren office drawings held at London Metropolitan Archives is available only with advance notice and at the discretion of the Heritage Services Director, London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R 0HB.