St George's Circus

St George's Circus
Obelisk at St George's Circus
Location
London, United Kingdom
Coordinates:	Coordinates: 51°29′55″N 0°06′18″W / 51.49861°N 0.10500°W / 51.49861; -0.10500
Roads at junction:	Blackfriars Road, Borough Road, London Road, Lambeth Road, Westminster Bridge Road and Waterloo Road
Construction
Type:	Intersection
Opened:	1771

St George's Circus is a road junction in Southwark, London, England. At its centre, which is now a traffic roundabout, is a historic obelisk, designed by Robert Mylne (1733–1811), in his role as surveyor and architect of Blackfriars Bridge.

It was built in 1771 to mark the completion of the new roads through St George's Fields in the parish of Southwark St George the Martyr during the tenure of Brass Crosby as Lord Mayor of the City of London. In 1905, the obelisk was relocated to Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, in front of the Imperial War Museum close by, to accommodate a new clock tower. The clocktower was demolished as a "nuisance to traffic" in the 1930s, but the obelisk did not return to its original location until the late 1990s. At the base of the obelisk is the inscription Erected in XI year of the reign of King George MDCCLXXI, with the inscriptions on the other three sides reflecting the obelisk's one-mile distance from Palace Yard, London Bridge and Fleet Street.

The landscaping introduced in the centre of the circus when the obelisk returned incorporated a semi circle of soil in which two Cabbage Palms were planted. This was then neglected and fell into long term decay until in 2005 guerrilla gardeners took over the land. They have since replanted it with lavender, rosemary, tulips, campanula, azalea and even a 7' Christmas tree. It is regularly cleared of litter and weeds and has become something of a landmark, appearing in press all over the world.