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Field Visit
Date 4 April 2001
Event ID 612834
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/612834
The monument, a circular tower with windows, resembles an upturned telescope. On the top is a ball and cross-trees, and a parapet with castellations. The base is castellated with gothic style windows. Above the main door is a carved relief of the ship 'San Josef', and the above inscription below.
The original design of the monument was by Alexander Nasmyth, but this was rejected as being too expensive. The commission was passed to Robert Burn and the foundation stone was laid on 21 October 1807, the second anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. In 1814-16 the base was enclosed in a five-sided structure by Thomas Bonnar (to Burn's design). The carving of the San Josef was added at this time.
Francis H. Groome in his Gazeteer calls the monument 'one of the ugliest monuments in Edinburgh - the curious butter-churn structure by which public taste saw fit to perpetrate the memory of Lord Nelson.' (1)
Commemorates Admiral Lord Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar.
The San Josef was a Spanish man of war and the flagship of the Spanish admiral Don Josef de Cordova at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. In this battle Nelson captured the ship and the admiral was killed.
In 1852 a time signal was installed: a ball at the top of the monument which is dropped at twelve noon G.M.T. (one o'clock p.m. in the summer, in conjunction with the gun being fired at Edinburgh Castle). This is to give a signal of the correct time, to the ships in the Forth.
Inspected By : Emma Retson
Inscriptions : Above main door, on top plaque (incised letters):
TO THE MEMORY OF / VICE ADMIRAL / HORATIO LORD VISCOUNT NELSON, / AND OF THE GREAT VICTORY OF TRAFALGAR, / TOO DEARLY PURCHASED WITH HIS BLOOD, / THE GRATEFUL CITIZENS OF EDINBURGH / HAVE ERECTED THIS MONUMENT: / NOT TO EXPRESS THEIR UNAVAILING SORROW FOR HIS DEATH; / NOR YET TO CELEBRATE THE MATCHLESS GLORIES OF HIS LIFE; BUT BY HIS NOBLE EXAMPLE, TO TEACH THEIR SONS / TO EMULATE WHAT THEY ADMIRE, AND, LIKE HIM, WHEN DUTY REQUIRES IT, / TO DIE FOR THEIR COUNTRY
On bottom plaque (incised letters):
A.D.MDCCCV. [1805, the date of the Battle of Trafalgar]
Signatures : None Visible
Design period : 1807 (monument) / 1814-1816 (base added)
Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0469)
