Tributes to a great man

Even in his lifetime there was a passion for collecting Nelson mementoes and after his death it became a national mania. Columns were erected in his honour throughout the land.

Norwich Guildhall
proudly displays the sword with mother-of-pearl handle which was once carried round the city in triumphal procession after its presentation. This was the sword surrendered by the Spanish admiral Don Xavier Francisco Winthuysen at the Battle of Cape St Vincent; the scene of the surrender on board the San Josef, engraved by Daniel Orme, hangs nearby.

Portsmouth, the Victory
The oldest warship in the world in continuous commission and the most famous of all sailing warships. Guided tours available, showing how the 821 officers and crew lived and worked.
Flagship Portsmouth website - linking the naval attractions at the port.

National Maritime Museum at Greenwich
The undress uniform coat worn by Nelson at Trafalgar - and still showing the hole made by the fatal musket bullet - is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich along with Nelson's left gloves and his eyeshield.
Museum website homepage
Direct to Nelson section

Nelson Museum at Monmouth
The shortened sword - the only weapon of Nelson's which has survived - is on display at the Nelson Museum at Monmouth, along with papers and other souvenirs.
More information from local website

In Penzance, a notice in the Union Hotel, Chapel Street, records the first public announcement of the victory of Trafalgar, and the Guildhall at Plymouth records the receipt of the first despatch relating to the victory.

Monuments

The first thanksgiving memorial in Nelson's honour was raised in Castlehaven, Ireland; the Dublin monument has been exploded by the IRA.

The Scottish Nelson monuments at Forres and Glasgow are perhaps not as famous as the neo-Gothic column on Edinburgh's Calton Hill, which was designed in the shape of a telescope with a time-ball on the top, intended for the use of mariners, to be lowered daily at one o'clock. This column, though threatened with demolition some years ago, is still one of Edinburgh's tourist attractions and the magnificent view from the top is world famous.

In London Greenpeace demonstrators used Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square to make their environmental protest in 1998, climbing 145 feet to Nelson's plinth.

But it is in Yarmouth that Nelson's home county pays tribute to its local hero.

Nelson's Yarmouth Column . . .