Bronze foundry established by Jack and Megan Crofton in Greenwich, their choice of name for the foundry inspired by its proximity to the prime meridian. In 1969, they moved to larger premises in Consort Road, Peckham, initially adjacent to the Corinthian Bronze Foundry and then expanding into part of those premises following Corinthian’s closure in 1971. The foundry was bought out by Morris Singer in 1999, the Croftons staying on for a short while as managers. In its heyday, Meridian’s output had been second only to Morris Singer’s in the United Kingdom. A small selection of its most important public sculpture commissions would include Franta Belsky’s Winston Churchill, 1969, Fulton, Missouri, and Earl Mountbatten, 1983, off Horse Guard’s Parade, London; Ivor Roberts-Jones’s Winston Churchill, 1973, Parliament Square, and his Field Marshal Slim, 1990, and Viscount Alanbrooke, 1993, both Whitehall; James Butler’s President Kenyatta, 1973, Nairobi, Kenya, his King Richard III, 1980, Leicester, Field Marshal Alexander, 1985, Wellington Barracks, London, and John Wilkes, 1988, Fetter Lane, London; Elisabeth Frink’s Paternoster, 1975, Paternoster Square, London, and Horse and Rider, 1975, New Bond Street Town Square (formerly sited in Dover Street), London; John Mills’s Blitz: The National Firefighters’ Memorial, 1990–91, Sermon Lane, City of London; and Angela Conner’s Twelve Responses to Tragedy, 1986, Cromwell Gardens, South Kensington, and General Charles de Gaulle, 1993, Carlton Gardens, London.
Bibliography: T. Cavanagh, Public Sculpture of Kensington and Chelsea with Westminster South-West, Watford, 2023, pp. 134, 295; T. Cavanagh, Public Sculpture of Leicestershire and Rutland, Liverpool, 2000, pp. 81, 376; T. Cavanagh, Public Sculpture of South London, Liverpool, 2007, pp. xvii, 46, 47, 85, 86, 169n2, 174, 176, 248, 249, 251, 253, 257, 258, 262, 264, 282, 311, 318, 360, 362, 366, 367; D.A. Cross, Public Sculpture of Lancashire and Cumbria, Liverpool, 2017, p. 8; D.S. James, ‘Foundries’, Arts Review, 13 February 1970, pp. 70–71, 87; R. McKenzie, Public Sculpture of Edinburgh (2 vols), Liverpool, 2018, vol. 1, p. 241; E. Morris and E. Roberts, Public Sculpture of Cheshire and Merseyside, Liverpool, 2012, pp. 4, 170, 174, 179, 180–81, 243; G.T. Noszlopy and F. Waterhouse, Public Sculpture of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire, Liverpool, 2010, p. 96; NPG British Bronze Sculpture Founders; P. Ward-Jackson, Public Sculpture of the City of London, Liverpool, 2003, pp. 60, 106, 235, 269, 293; P. Ward-Jackson, Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster. Volume 1, Liverpool, 2011, pp. 19, 28, 53, 57, 210, 409, 425, 426.
Terry Cavanagh November 2022