Qualla: Trafalgar Square https://qualla.com/trafalgar-square en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Trafalgar Square https://qualla.com/trafalgar-square Trafalgar Square: Introduction https://qualla.com/trafalgar-square/ Distances from London are measured from this square. Officially, in legislation - when a sign on a motorway says how far you are from London, it is telling you how far you are from a brass plaque set into the pavement on the south side of Trafalgar Square, on the spot where the original Charing Cross stood. So whatever you think you know about where London is, the British government has decided that London is here, in a square named for a Spanish cape, looked over by an Admiral who never set foot in it. The name was not chosen until 1835 - thirty years after the Battle of Trafalgar - and the square itself did not open until 1844. Before that, this was the King's Mews, where royal hawks were kept for moulting, and later horses.

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]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/trafalgar-square-wp/gcpv-trafalgar-square-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Trafalgar Square: The Mews and the Mob https://qualla.com/trafalgar-square/ The site has been important since the 13th century. Edward I hosted the King's Mews here, at the T-junction where the Strand from the City meets Whitehall coming up from Westminster. The name "Mews" comes from "to mew" - to moult - because hawks were brought here to shed their fe...

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]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/trafalgar-square-wp/gcpv-trafalgar-square-the-mews-and-the-mob.mp3 0:06 2 full Trafalgar Square: Nelson and His Lions https://qualla.com/trafalgar-square/ The Nelson Memorial Committee approached the government in 1838 proposing a public-subscription monument to the victor of Trafalgar. A competition was held, won by the architect William Railton with a design for a 218-foot Corinthian column. There were widespread public objection...

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]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/trafalgar-square-wp/gcpv-trafalgar-square-nelson-and-his-lions.mp3 0:06 3 full Trafalgar Square: The Place Politique https://qualla.com/trafalgar-square/ The historian Rodney Mace described Trafalgar Square as developing "from an esplanade peopled with figures of national heroes, into the country's foremost place politique." The 1848 Chartist rally - working-class demand for parliamentary reform - assembled here. Bloody Sunday in ...

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]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/trafalgar-square-wp/gcpv-trafalgar-square-the-place-politique.mp3 0:06 4 full Trafalgar Square: The Norwegian Tree https://qualla.com/trafalgar-square/ Every December since 1947, a Norway spruce arrives in Trafalgar Square. The Norwegian government sends it as a thank you for British support during the Second World War, when the Norwegian king-in-exile broadcast home from London and the Royal Navy escorted convoys to Murmansk th...

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]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/trafalgar-square-wp/gcpv-trafalgar-square-the-norwegian-tree.mp3 0:06 5 full Trafalgar Square: The Fourth Plinth https://qualla.com/trafalgar-square/ Barry's 1840s scheme provided four plinths around the square. Three got their statues fairly promptly - George IV on the eastern plinth in 1843 (intended for Marble Arch, redirected here when funding ran out), Sir Charles Napier in 1855, Major-General Sir Henry Havelock in 1861. ...

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]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/trafalgar-square-wp/gcpv-trafalgar-square-the-fourth-plinth.mp3 0:06 6 full