Britannia Monument

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Britannia Monument.

The Britannia Monument is a commemorative column or tower built in memorial to Admiral Horatio Nelson, situated on the Denes, Great Yarmouth in the county of Norfolk, England.

Designed by architect William Wilkins, it was raised in the period 1817-1819 from money raised by a committee of local magnates.

The Grade 1 monument, correctly called the Norfolk Pillar, is in the style of a doric column topped by six caryatid figures that support a statue of Britannia proudly standing atop a globe inscribed with the motto from Nelson’s coat of arms ‘Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat’, she holds an olive branch in her outstretched right hand, a trident in her left and looks inland - said to be towards Nelson's birthplace. The whole monument is 144 ft high, compared to 169 ft for the monument in Trafalgar Square and the top is reached by some two hundred steps. The structure is currently undergoing repair and conservation. In 2006 it was removed from English Heritage's Buildings At Risk register. In August 2006 it was rededicated. It currently stands, albeit separated in its own small railed plot, in an industrial estate.

In the late nineteenth century, the original caryatids were replaced with concrete replicas, the formulation for the synthetic material, Coade stone, from which they were cast having been lost. The figure of Britannia has more recently been replaced by a fibreglass copy.

[edit] Dedications

At the base inscriptions commemorate Nelson's four main victories over Britain's enemies the French and Spanish:

On the top plinth are named four of the ships he sailed on including HMS Victory

On the western face - ie inland again - a Latin inscription reads "This great man Norfolk boasts her own, not only as born there of a respectable family, and as there having received his early education, but her own also in talents, manners and mind"

There is a song called "Nelson's Monument" which refers to the monument.