Trafalgar Square and The Four Plinths

Every city needs a place for its inhabitants to gather - a place that all generally agree is the place to come together to celebrate, protest, debate and commemorate. For London that place is Trafalgar Square.   

From the 14th to the 17th century, the Square was the site of the King’s Mews (stables) that served Whitehall Palace. After King George IV moved the mews to Buckingham Palace, John Nash, a leading architect of that time, began redevelopment of the area in 1812. In 1830, the area was named Trafalgar Square in commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar where the British navy won the Napoleonic Wars with France and Spain in 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar in southwest Spain.

John Nash died soon after construction started and progress slowed thereafter. Plans laid by a second architect, William Wilkins (who designed the National Gallery), were never actioned. In 1840, a third architect, Charles Barry, who rebuilt the Houses of Parliament, submitted plans that were accepted and construction resumed. The Square  then opened in 1844.

A number of commemorative statues occupy the Square. First is Nelson's Column. Built between 1840 and 1843, the Column stands 52m tall in the middle of the square, was designed by William Railton and carved out of Craigleith sandstone by the Bristol-born sculptor Edward Baily. It commemorates Admiral Horatio Nelson who died in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. 

Bronze reliefs on its pedestal installed in 1849 depict scenes from Nelson’s most famous battles; the metal used to carve them came from French guns which had been captured and melted down.

In 1845, fountains were erected followed by the four bronze lions in 1867. The lions were designed by the painter and sculptor Sir Edwin Landseer and cast by the Italian-born French sculptor Baron Marochetti in his Kensington studio.
 

Along the wall of the north end of the square (in front of the National Gallery) are three busts of admirals. One is of Lord Jelllicoe who fought in the Anglo-Egyptian war and which was erected in 1948.

Also erected in 1948 was the bust of Lord Beatty who fought in the Madhist War between the Sudanese and Egyptians.

The third is of Sea Lord Admiral Cunningham, a senior officer in the Royal Navy during World War II. This was erected in 1967. 

In front of the Gallery are a statue of James II dressed as a Roman emperor and the first American president George Washington. On the south side is a bronze statue of Charles I riding a horse and sculpted by the French sculptor Hubert Le Sueur.

The plinth in the northeast corner holds a granite and bronze statue of King George IV on a horse and was erected in 1843; it was actually originally meant to be placed atop Marble Arch. 

This plinth in the northwest corner was built in 1841. However, the plans to place a statue of King William IV, brother to King George, never materialised.

Approximately ten years later, two more plinths were built in the southern corners. This one of Major General Sir Henry Havelock (associated with the Indian Rebellion of 1857) was erected on the south-eastern plinth in 1861.

A statue of General Sir Charles James Napier (governor of the British Empire and army commander-in-chief in India) was erected on the south-western plinth in 1856.