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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Nelson's Column
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(London WC2) Monument to *Nelson, designed by William Railton (c.1801–77) and more formally known as the Nelson Column. The 51m/168ft Corinthian column of Devonshire granite, with a bronze capital, was put up in Trafalgar Square in 1839–42; the 5m/17ft statue of the admiral, by E.H. *Baily, was placed on top of it in 1843; but the four famous bronze lions at its base, sculpted by *Landseer, were not added until 1867. This is the best known of the many monuments to Nelson, but others in the country were much earlier. Glasgow's was up by 1806, within a year of his death; Hereford put up in 1806–9 a column designed by Thomas Hardwick; in Edinburgh the Nelson Monument, a tower in the shape of a telescope on Calton Hill, was completed in 1816; and the great Doric column which can be climbed at Great Yarmouth (44m/144ft high) was in place by 1819.
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