1805

21 October 1805
Battle of Trafalgar: A British Royal Navy fleet led by Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain. Around 1,150 of the 18,000 men on the British ships were born in Scotland.

21 October 1805

SC00597288.jpg

from Historic Environment Scotland
The Nelson Monument stands on a prominent knoll close to the village of Taynuilt, Argyll and Bute.
It's believed to be the first monument erected in memory of Horatio Nelson after his death at the Battle of Trafalgar on this day in 1805.
The story behind the monument is linked to nearby Bonawe Iron Furnace, which produced cannonballs used by the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars.
A ship which had been delivering a cargo of Bonawe cannonballs to the navy in Falmouth heard the news of Trafalgar just before setting off on its return trip to Scotland. As such, the furnace workers received the early-1800s equivalent of breaking news!
They immediately set about commemorating Nelson's death by carrying a 3.5m-tall prehistoric standing stone from a nearby field and re-erecting it on a nearby hilltop as a memorial.


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