Trafalgar Square
When I was a boy, when I thought of Trafalgar Square I thought of pigeons. You could buy bags of bird seed and within no time you would be literally covered in pigeons. But as the number of the pigeons increased, droppings of the birds started look ugly on buildings and damaged the stonework. So, the sale of the bird seeds was banned and measures taken to rid the square of the birds, and now they are a rare sight.
This piece of land was once part of the Great Royal Mews and used as stables by Whitehall Palace [The name "mews" originates from the practice of keeping hawks here for moulting; "mew" is an old word for this]. In 1812, architect John Nash wanted to develop new street between this site and Portland Place. His idea was that it should be all one open square, a cultural space open to the public.
It was officially named as Trafalgar Square in 1830, to commemorate the Royal Navy’s victory over the combined forces of the French and Spanish at The Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.
In the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square, on the left edge of my photo, you may see a cylindrical stone structure with a black half-glazed door. This was a one-man police phone box installed in 1926, so officers could keep an eye on large gatherings and protests held in the square. There was a direct phone line back to Scotland Yard in case reinforcements were needed in times of trouble - whenever the police phone was picked up, the ornamental light fitting at the top of the box started to flash, alerting any nearby officers on duty that trouble was near. Apparently, this little box could accommodate up to two prisoners if need be, possibly people caught cooling their feet in the fountains…..
Legend has it that the ornamental light on the top of the box was originally from Nelson’s HMS Victory. It’s certainly big enough.
Trafalgar Square
When I was a boy, when I thought of Trafalgar Square I thought of pigeons. You could buy bags of bird seed and within no time you would be literally covered in pigeons. But as the number of the pigeons increased, droppings of the birds started look ugly on buildings and damaged the stonework. So, the sale of the bird seeds was banned and measures taken to rid the square of the birds, and now they are a rare sight.
This piece of land was once part of the Great Royal Mews and used as stables by Whitehall Palace [The name "mews" originates from the practice of keeping hawks here for moulting; "mew" is an old word for this]. In 1812, architect John Nash wanted to develop new street between this site and Portland Place. His idea was that it should be all one open square, a cultural space open to the public.
It was officially named as Trafalgar Square in 1830, to commemorate the Royal Navy’s victory over the combined forces of the French and Spanish at The Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.
In the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square, on the left edge of my photo, you may see a cylindrical stone structure with a black half-glazed door. This was a one-man police phone box installed in 1926, so officers could keep an eye on large gatherings and protests held in the square. There was a direct phone line back to Scotland Yard in case reinforcements were needed in times of trouble - whenever the police phone was picked up, the ornamental light fitting at the top of the box started to flash, alerting any nearby officers on duty that trouble was near. Apparently, this little box could accommodate up to two prisoners if need be, possibly people caught cooling their feet in the fountains…..
Legend has it that the ornamental light on the top of the box was originally from Nelson’s HMS Victory. It’s certainly big enough.