| Type | Square |
|---|---|
| Managed by | Greater London Authority |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Region | London |
| UK Grid square | TQ 299 804 |
| Address | City of Westminster, London |
| Postcode | WC2 |
| Website | www.london.gov.uk/trafalgarsquare/ |
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of contemporary art. The square is also used for political demonstrations and community gatherings, such as the celebration of New Year's Eve.
The name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars over France. The original name was to have been "King William the Fourth's Square", but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name "Trafalgar Square".[1]
In the 1820s, George IV engaged the architect John Nash to redevelop the area. Nash cleared the square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The present architecture of the square is due to Sir Charles Barry and was completed in 1845.
Trafalgar Square is owned by the Queen in Right of the Crown, and managed by the Greater London Authority, while Westminster City Council owns the roads around the square, including the pedestrianised area of the North Terrace.[2]
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From the time of Edward I to the early nineteenth century, most of the area now occupied by Trafalgar Square was the site of the King's Mews, which stretched north from the position of the original Charing Cross, where the Strand from the City met Whitehall, coming north from Westminster.
The mews were divided into the Great Mews and the smaller Green Mews to the north by the Crown Stables, a large block, built in 1732 to the designs of William Kent. Its site is now occupied by the National Gallery. The Royal Mews were transferred to Pimlico in the 1820s, and the stable block used as a menagerie, and for the storage of public records, until its demolition in 1835.[3] In 1826 the Commissioners of H.M. Woods, Forests and Land Revenues instructed John Nash to draw up plans for clearing a large area south of Kent’s stable block, and as far east as St Martin’s Lane. His plans left open the whole area of what was to become Trafalgar Square, except for a block in the centre, which he reserved for a new building for the Royal Academy.[4] They also involved the demolition and redevelopment of an area of buildings to the east of St Martin’s Lane, as far as the Strand, and the construction of a road (now called Duncannon Street) across the churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields.[5] The Charing Cross act was passed in 1826 and clearance of the ground started soon after.[4]
After the initial clearance, development of the square progressed slowly. A plan for laying it out was approved by the Treasury in 1837, but not put into effect. In April 1840, a new plan, by Charles Barry was accepted, and construction started within weeks. Barry dealt with the complex sloping site by levelling the square, and constructing a 15 foot high balustraded terrace with a roadway its the north side in front of the National Gallery. Steps were constructed at each end of the terrace leading down to the main level of the square and plinths were provided for sculpture and pedestals for lighting. All the stonework was of Aberdeen granite. The estimated budget, excluding paving and sculptures, was £11,000.[6] The next year it was decided that two fountains should be included in the layout.[7]
Nelson’s Column had been planned independently of Barry’s work. In 1838 a Nelson Memorial Committee had approached the government, proposing that a monument to the victor of Trafalgar, funded by public subscription, should be erected in the square, and the government had provisionally agreed. A competition was held, the winning design, by the architect William Railton, being for a Corinthian column topped by a statue of Nelson, with an overall height of more than 200 feet, guarded by four sculpted lions. The design was approved, with the proviso that the overall height should be reduced to 170 feet, and construction began in 1840.[6] The main construction of the column was completed, and the statue raised, in November 1843.[8]
Barry was unhappy about Nelson’s column being placed in the square. In July 1840, when its foundations had already been laid, he told a parliamentary select committee "it would in my opinion be desirable that the area should be wholly free from all insulated objects of art".[6]
The hoardings were removed and the square opened to the public on 1 May 1844, although the asphalt paving remained incomplete, and the fountains were not yet playing. There was still a hoarding around the base of Nelson’s column, which was to remain for some years, and some of its upper scaffolding remained in place.[9] The pedestal of the column was not finished until May 1854, when the last of its bronze reliefs was installed. The four lions, although part of the original design, were only added in 1867.[10]
The square has become a social and political focus for visitors and Londoners alike, developing over its history from "an esplanade peopled with figures of national heroes, into the country's foremost place politique", as historian Rodney Mace has written. Its symbolic importance was demonstrated in 1940 when the Nazi SS developed secret plans to transfer Nelson's Column to Berlin following an expected German invasion, as related by Norman Longmate in If Britain Had Fallen (1972).
The square consists of a large central area with roadways on three sides, and a terrace to the north, in front of the National Gallery. The roads around the square form part of the A4 road.The square was formerly surrounded by a one-way traffic system, but works completed in 2003 reduced the width of the roads and closed the northern side to traffic.[11]
Nelson's Column is in the centre of the square, flanked by fountains designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1937-9 as replacements for two earlier fountains of Peterhead granite ( now in Canada), and guarded by four monumental bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer. The column is topped by a statue of Horatio Nelson, the vice admiral who commanded the British Fleet at Trafalgar.
On the north side of the square is the National Gallery and to its east St Martin-in-the-Fields church. The square adjoins The Mall entered through Admiralty Arch to the southwest. To the south is Whitehall, to the east Strand and South Africa House, to the north Charing Cross Road and on the west side Canada House.
A major redevelopment of the square to plans by Foster and Partners was completed in 2003. The work involved closing the main eastbound road along the north side, diverting the traffic around the other three sides of the square, demolishing the central section of the northern retaining wall and inserting a wide set of steps leading up to a pedestrianised terrace in front of the National Gallery. The construction includes two lifts for disabled access, public toilets, and a small café. Previously, access between the square and the Gallery was by two crossings at the northeast and northwest corners of the square.[12]
At the corners of the square are four plinths; the two northern ones, intended for equestrian statues, are larger than the southern pair. Three of them have statues: in the northeast corner George IV by Sir Francis Chantrey (originally intended for the top of the Marble Arch[13] ); in the southeast Major-General Sir Henry Havelock by William Behnes (1861), and in the southwest General Sir Charles James Napier by George Cannon Adams[14] (1855). In 2000, the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone controversially expressed a desire to see the two generals replaced with statues of people "ordinary Londoners would know".[15]
The fourth plinth in the northwest corner was originally intended for a statue of William IV but the funds for the statue could not be raised, in part due to the King's unpopularity. Since 1998 the plinth has been used to show a series of specially commissioned artworks. The scheme was initiated by the Royal Society of arts and continued by a Fourth Plinth Commission, appointed by the Mayor of London. A 1:30 scale replica of HMS Victory in a giant glass bottle by Yinka Shonibare was installed on the plinth in May 2010.[16][17]
There are two statues on the lawn in front of the National Gallery: James II by Grinling Gibbons to the west of the portico, and George Washington, a replica of a work by Jean-Antoine Houdon, to the east.[18] The latter, a gift from the state of Virginia installed in 1921, stands on soil imported from the United States, to honour Washington's declaration he would never again set foot on British soil.[19]
There are three busts of admirals against the north wall of the square. Those of Lord Jellicoe by Sir Charles Wheeler and Lord Beatty by William MacMillan were installed in 1948 in conjunction with the square's two fountains, which also commemorate the two men.[20][21] A bust of the Second World War First Sea Lord Admiral Cunningham by Franta Belsky was unveiled alongside them on 2 April 1967.[22]
On the south side of the square is a bronze equestrian statue of Charles I by Hubert Le Sueur. It was cast in 1633, and placed in its present position in 1678. It is on the site of the original Charing Cross[23]
A statue of Edward Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination was set up in the south-west corner of the square in 1858, next to that of Charles Napier. Sculpted by William Calder Marshall, it showed Jenner sitting in a chair in a relaxed pose, and was inaugurated at a ceremony presided over by Prince Albert. It was moved to Kensington Gardens in 1862.[24][25]
A statue of General Charles George Gordon by Hamo Thornycroft,[14] on an eighteen-foot high pedestal, was erected in 1888, positioned between the two fountains. It was removed in 1943 and re-sited on the Victoria Embankment ten years later.[26]
When the square was laid out in the 1840s, the fountains' primary purpose was not aesthetic, but rather to reduce the open space available and the risk of riotous assembly. They were originally fed by water pumped from an artesian well by a steam engine sited behind the National Gallery. In the late 1930s it was decided to replace the stone basins and the pump.The new fountains were built to a design by Sir Edwin Lutyens at a cost of almost £50,000 The old fountains were bought for presentation to the Canadian government, and are now in Ottawa and Regina.[27][28] The present fountains are memorials to Lord Jellicoe (western side) and Lord Beatty (eastern side)[29]
Further restoration work became necessary and was completed by May 2009. The pump system was replaced with a new pump is capable of sending an 80-foot (24 m) jet of water into the air.[30] A new LED lighting system was also installed during this restoration to reduce the cost of lighting maintenance. The new lighting has been designed with the London 2012 Summer Olympics in mind and for the first time will project many different combinations of colours on to the fountains.[27] The new lighting system has a much lower energy requirement and will reduce its carbon footprint by around 90%.[30]
The square was once famous for its feral pigeons, and feeding them was a popular activity. The desirability of the birds' presence was contentious: their droppings disfigured stonework, and the flock, estimated at its peak to be 35,000, was considered a health hazard. In 2005, the sale of bird seed in the square was stopped and other measures introduced to discourage the pigeons, including the use of trained birds of prey.[31] Groups of supporters continued to feed the birds, but in 2003 the then-Mayor, Ken Livingstone, enacted bylaws to ban the feeding of pigeons in the square.[32] In September 2007 Westminster City Council passed further bylaws banning the feeding of birds on the square's pedestrianised North Terrace and other pavements in the area[33] There are now few birds in Trafalgar Square and it is used for festivals and hired out to film companies in a way that was not feasible in the 1990s.
For many years, revellers celebrating the start of a New Year have gathered in the square, despite a lack of civic celebrations being arranged. The lack of official events in the square was partly because the authorities were concerned that actively encouraging more partygoers would cause overcrowding. Since 2005, a firework display centred on London Eye and the South Bank of the Thames has been provided as an alternative
Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) was 8 May 1945, the date when the Allies during the Second World War celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany. Trafalgar Square was filled with a crowd wanting to hear the formal announcement by Sir Winston Churchill that the war was over. The square was also used as a place of celebration by people travelling there from all over the country. On 8 May 2005 the BBC held a concert to celebrate the 60th anniversary of VE Day.
There has been a Christmas ceremony at Trafalgar Square every year since 1947. A Norway Spruce (or sometimes a fir) is given by Norway's capital Oslo and presented as London's Christmas tree, as a token of gratitude for Britain's support during World War II. (Besides the general war support, Norway's Prince Olav, as well as the country's government, lived in exile in London throughout the war.) As part of the tradition, the Lord Mayor of Westminster visits Oslo in the late autumn to take part in the felling of the tree, and the Mayor of Oslo then comes to London to light the tree at the Christmas ceremony.[34]
Since its construction, Trafalgar Square has been a venue for political demonstrations, though the authorities have often attempted to ban them. The 1839 fountains were added on their current scale to reduce the possibility of crowds gathering in the square as they were not in the original plans.
By March of the year Nelson's column opened, the authorities had started banning Chartist meetings in the square. A general ban on political rallies remained in effect until the 1880s, when the emerging Labour movement, particularly the Social Democratic Federation, began holding protests there.
On "Black Monday" (8 February 1886), protesters rallied against unemployment; this led to a riot in Pall Mall. A larger riot (called "Bloody Sunday") occurred in the square on 13 November 1887.
One of the first significant demonstrations of the modern era was held in the square on 19 September 1961 by the Committee of 100, which included the philosopher Bertrand Russell. The protesters rallied for peace and against war and nuclear weapons.
Throughout the 1980s, a continuous anti-apartheid protest was held outside South Africa House. More recently, the square has hosted the Poll Tax Riots (1990) and anti-war demonstrations opposing the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war.[35]
The square was also scene to a large vigil held shortly after the terrorist bombings in London on Thursday, 7 July 2005.[36]
In December 2009, participants from the Camp for Climate Action occupied the square for the two weeks in which the UN Conference on Climate Change took place in Copenhagen.[37] It was billed as a UK base for direct action on climate change during the conference, and saw various actions and protests stem from the occupation.[38][39][40]
On March 27, 2011. The square was occupied by protesters using the square to protest against the UK Budget and its proposed budget cuts. During the night however, the situation turned violent as the escalation by riot police and protesters damaged portions of the square.[41]
On 26 June 1996, after England's defeat to Germany in the Euro 96 semi-finals, a large scale riot took place in Trafalgar Square, with a number of injuries.[42]
On 21 June 2002, 12,000 people gathered in the square to watch the England national football team's World Cup quarter-final against Brazil on giant video screens which had been erected specially for the occasion.[43]
In the early 21st century, Trafalgar Square has become the location to the climax for sporting victory parades. It was used by the England national rugby union team on 9 December 2003 to celebrate their victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and then on 13 September 2005 for the England national cricket team's victory in The Ashes.
On 6 July 2005 Trafalgar Square was a gathering place for the announcement on London's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, Located also on Trafalgar Square is its Official Countdown Clock unveiled last March 14, 2011.
In 2007, it hosted the opening ceremonies of the Tour de France.
As an archetypal London location, Trafalgar Square featured prominently in film and television productions during the Swinging London era of the late 1960s, including The Avengers, Casino Royale, Doctor Who, The Ipcress File and Man in a Suitcase. It was also used as a filming location for several sketches and a cartoon backdrop in the BBC comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus.
In May 2007, the square was grassed over with 2,000 square metres of turf for two days as part of a campaign by London authorities to promote "green spaces" in the city.[45]
Every year on the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October), the Sea Cadet Corps holds a parade in honour of Admiral Lord Nelson and the British victory over the combined fleets of Spain and France at Trafalgar. The Areas of the Sea Cadet Corps are represented by seven 24-cadet platoons. The National Sea Cadet Band also parades, as does a Guard and Colour Party.
On July 7, 2011, due to building works in Leicester Square, the world premiere of the final film in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, was held in Trafalgar Square, with a 0.75 mile red-carpet linking the two squares. Fans camped in Trafalgar Square for up to three days before the premiere. It was the first premiere ever to be held in Trafalgar Square.
Nearest London Underground stations:
Bus routes running through Trafalgar Square:
National Heroes Square in Bridgetown, Barbados, was originally named Trafalgar Square in 1813, before its better known British namesake; it too had a statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson. The name was changed on 28 April 1999.
There is also a Trafalgar Square in Barre, Massachusetts. The suburb of Waterloo in the city of Lower Hutt, New Zealand, features a Trafalgar Square opposite the Waterloo Interchange Railway Station, a major metropolitan hub.[46]
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