High on the walls, between the windows east and west, and beneath the corresponding frescoes north and south, are eighteen large bronze statues of sixteen barons and two archbishops who witnessed the signing of Magna Carta.

The figures are given names from among those known to have attended, but these are ideal images, certainly not portraits. They stand here as brooding tutelary presences, reminding us of the seminal importance of Magna Carta in the development of parliamentary democracy.

Additional Information on
Statues of Magna Carta Barons

Magna Carta contained nine groups of clauses, of which the first three dealt with the rights of the church, which should henceforth be free; the rights of royal tenants, and sub-tenants. Other groups dealt with royal forests, the behaviour of royal officials, and contemporary issues such as the dismissal of foreign mercenaries. Another group of clauses provided rights for towns, trade and merchants. A large group concerned the reform of law and justice and lastly, and very significantly, clauses provided the security that the king should not seriously infringe the charter. If he did so, a council of 25 barons were permitted to wage war on him. Clause 39, which is justly famous, provided that 'no free man shall be imprisoned or dispossessed except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land'. National and state constitutions in America look back directly to Magna Carta, some even using similar text.