London Trafalgar Square poster. British Railways. See Britain by Rail – Buckle
This London Trafalgar Square poster depicts the scene of the heart of London. Since the early 1290s, the spot on which the equestrian statue in Trafalgar Square stands has been considered the literal centre of London. The statue in the foreground of Claude Buckle’s fabulous poster image is that of King Charles I. The statue has stood on the site, staring down Whitehall, since 1675.
Buckle’s London poster with its painting of the vibrant and busy Trafalgar Square formed part of British Railways ongoing See Britain by Rail marketing campaign. The poster was published by The Railway Executive, London Midland Region. Buckle’s vantage point is on the corner of The Mall and Whitehall, looking back, past the statue of King Charles and over the busy main road towards Trafalgar Square. Buckle’s muted colour palette of browns, greys and green helps the flecks of colour to stand out more prominently and only serves to enhance the poster image. Buckle’s vantage point is on the corner of The Mall and Whitehall, looking back, past the statue of King Charles and over the busy main road towards Trafalgar Square. His painting features many of the capital city’s most famous and enduring landmarks.
Nelson’s Column Trafalgar Square London.
Dominating the painting is the 169ft tall, Nelson’s Column. The monument was designed by William Railton to commemorate Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish navies. The Battle of Trafalgar was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars, and Nelson’s victory was decisive. Although successful Nelson lost his life during the battle.. The monument was erected in 1839 to honour his life and his achievement.
Although designed by Railton, the construction of the monument was a collaborative effort.The statue of Nelson was carved from Craigleith sandstone by sculptor Edward Hodges Bailey. The ornate capital on which Nelson stands was by the architectural sculptor Charles Harriet Smith. The Corinthian column was built from Dartmoor Granite. The pedestal features four bronze relief panels cast from captured French guns. Musgrave Watson sculpted the scene of the Battle of Cape St Vincent, William F Woodington produced the Battle of the Nile, John Ternouth, the Battle of Copenhagen and John Edward Carew, the death of Nelson at Trafalgar. At the time of construction, the iconic monument cost £47,000 to create, equivalent to almost £5 million in 2021.
The Landseer Lions
Nelson’s famous monument is flanked by four identical bronze sculpted Barbary lions, one of which can be seen on the vintage travel poster. The lions were part of Railton’s original design but weren’t added until several years later. The sculptures were eventually commissioned in 1858, and were designed by Sir Edwin Landseer, in collaboration with Baron Marochetti. Landseer was paid £6,000 for his services, and Marochetti £11,000. The Landseer Lions of Trafalgar Square were finally placed on guard at the base of Nelson’s Column and unveiled to the public on 31st January 1867.
For nearly two centuries, Nelson’s Column has served as a symbol of British strength and resilience, drawing visitors from all over the world. Today, it remains one of London’s most popular tourist attractions, a fitting tribute to one of Britain’s greatest heroes.
The Fountains on Trafalgar Square
On the poster, behind the lion Buckle has included the decorative display of water spouting out of one of the Square’s two fountains. When Trafalgar Square was first constructed it was surfaced with tarmacadam. To counteract the effects of reflected heat and glare from the asphalt surface it was decided that two fountains should be included in the square’s layout. The estimated budget, was £11,000. The fountains were added in 1845. The mermaids, dolphins and tritons (the male figures with tails like fish) were installed later. They were fed from two wells, with the water pumped to the fountains by a steam engine. In the late-1930s it was decided to replace the pump and the centrepieces of the fountains. The new centrepieces, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The fountain refurb cost almost £50,000. The asphalt was replaced with Aberdeen Granite in the 1920s.
The buildings on the Trafalgar Square Poster
The backdrop to Buckle’s impressive London poster is made up of three buildings, the National Art Gallery, the London Coliseum and St Martin-in-the-Fields church.
The National Art Gallery was founded in 1824. The present building, the third to house the National Gallery, was designed by William Wilkins however, only the facade facing out onto Trafalgar Square remains from this time. The rest of the building has been expanded regularly throughout its history.
To the far right of the art Gallery is St Martin-in-the-Fields. It stands on the site of a church dating back to 1222. A church was rebuilt by Henry VIII in 1542, to keep plague victims in the area from having to pass through his Palace of Whitehall. At this time the church was literally “in the fields”, occupying an isolated position between the cities of Westminster and London. The church stood for almst 200 years until a survey in 1710 found that the walls and roof were in a state of decay. In 1720, Parliament passed an act for the rebuilding of the church allowing for a sum of up to £22,000, to be raised by a rate on the parishioners. The present building was constructed in a neo-classical design by James Gibbs between 1722 and 1726.
Set back further along St Martin’s Lane, behind the church, is the 145ft high, domed roof of the London Coliseum. The cupola sits on top of a square tower supported by heavy column pilasters, with bold carved figures at the, corners, representing Art, Music, Science and Architecture. The dome is topped with eight cupid figures and crowned by a large revolving globe that announces the theatres name as it turns. The Coliseum theatre was designed by Frank Matchum for the Australian impressario Oswald Stoll. The pair had the ambition of it being the largest and finest “People’s palace of entertainment” of the age. It was to be London’s largest and most luxurious “family” variety theatre.
When the theatre first opened, the Theatre, with its wonderful Italian Renaissance terra-cotta facade, huge and lavish auditorium, sumptuous front of house facilitates, and its innovative revolving stage, could accommodate almost 3,000 people, all seated. It was built on four levels, Stalls, Dress Circle, Grand Tier, and Balcony. At the time, the Coliseum was one of the few theatres in Europe to provide lifts for taking patrons to the upper levels of the house, and it was the first theatre in England to have a triple revolve stage.The stage itself was vast, measuring 55′ wide by 92′ deep.
The inaugural performance was a variety bill on 24 December 1904. The programme was a mix of music hall and variety theatre, with one act – a full scale revolving chariot race. It was a complete failure and the theatre closed down in 1906 just two years after opening. Upon reopening in December 1907 the theatre finally became a success.
London’s iconic red buses and black taxis
Claude Buckle’s painting includes several vehicles making their way around Trafalgar Square. The iconic red London double-decker buses and famous Unic black cabs.The vehicles and the inclusion of tourists and pedestrians in and around the picture provide a great idea of the scale of statues and monuments around Trafalgar Square.
The King Charles I statue at Charing Cross
The statue of Charles I in Trafalgar Square is London’s oldest bronze statue. It was commissioned in 1630 from the king’s personal favourite sculptor, the Frenchman Hubert Le Sueur. The statue was supposed to be completed in eighteen months at a cost of £600. According the the English Heritage website the surviving contract specifies ‘the casting of a horse in Brasse bigger than a great Horse by a foot, and the figure of his Maj: King Charles proportionable full six foot, which the aforesaid Hubert Le Sueur is to perform with all the skill and workmanship as lieth in his power…”Le Sueur’s statue depicts Charles bareheaded, with armour and wearing the Order of the Garter around his neck.
The statue was intended to be installed in the Earl of Portland’s garden at Roehampton in Surrey. However, during the Civil War the statue was ordered to be melted down by Oliver Cromwell’s Parliament. Instead it was hidden. After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the statue was unearthed and in 1675 Charles II ordered a plynth for the statue to stand on to be designed by Sir Christopher Wren and ornamented with reliefs by Joshua Marshall. It was erected on its present site at the then named Charing Cross.
What is Charing Cross famous for?
The King Charles statue replaced an even older stone monument known as the ‘Eleanor Cross’ that was erected in 1290AD by King Edward I. The cross was the largest and most ornate of twelve that marked the route of the funeral procession from Lincoln to Westminster Abbey of the King’s wife, Queen Eleanor. When it was erected the Eleanor Cross stood in a small village called Charing. The hamlet was located between London and Westminster and comprised of little more than a few cottages serving the Royal Mews (the equestrian stables) of the Palace of Whitehall. The Eleanor Cross at Charing was the final one before Westminster Abbey.
As London expanded the Cross at Charing became a three-way junction (now a six way junction) and over time the area itself became known as Charing Cross. The medieval monumental cross stood for 353 years until it was destroyed in 1647 by Oliver Cromwell and his revolutionary government.
According to an article on the Battersea Power Station website. “At this time there was still no convention that Charing Cross was the centre of London”. It continues “different guide books and other publications used different locations, and milestones often showed the distance to the then edge of London rather than any central point.” Legend has it that the Roman legions counted their mileages from the ‘London Stone’ that is located in Cannon Street, not far from St Paul’s Cathedral.
The idea of the location of the old Charing Cross being the centre of London came about in the early 19th century. Documents from around this time specify that areas within a certain distance of Charing Cross were to be considered part of London. Since then, Charing Cross has been the notional “centre of London” and is today, still the point from which distances from London are measured.
The new Charing Cross railway station opened on the Strand in 1864, just adjacent to the new Trafalgar Square. At the time, it’s owners, the South Eastern Railway commissioned a replica cross, loosely based on the original Eleanor Cross design, to be made to stand in the railway station forecourt. It is still there today, just a few hundred yards from the site of the medieval original.
