The Duke of York Column
The Duke of York Column is a monument in London, England, to Prince Frederick, Duke of York, the second eldest son of King George III. The designer was Benjamin Dean Wyatt. It is sited where Regent Street meets The Mall, a purposefully wide endpoint of Regent Street known as Waterloo Place and Gardens, in between the two terraces of Carlton House Terrace and their tree-lined squares. The three very wide flights of steps down to The Mall adjoining are known as the Duke of York Steps.
The column is of the Tuscan order. It is built of granite from Aberdeenshire; a light grey variety was used for the pedestal, a bluer grey type for the base of the shaft, and 'red' Peterhead granite (warm beige) for the rest of the structure. There is an iron railing around the abacus of the capital (narrow main shaft). An top of the column, on a plinth, is a bronze statue of the duke dressed in the robes of the Knights of the Garter, by Sir Richard Westmacott. It is 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) tall, weighs 16,840 pounds (7,640 kg) and was raised to the top on 8 April 1834.
The total height of the monument to the top of the statue is 137 ft 9 in (41.99 m).[3] The statue faces south southeast, and from its base also are views of The Mall and St. James's Park.
Inside the hollow column a spiral staircase of 168 steps, lit by narrow apertures in the wall, leads to the viewing platform around the base of the statue. Given the small, fragile platform and previous high demand for climbing, this staircase has been closed to the public for many decades.
The great height of the column caused contemporary wits to suggest that the Duke was trying to escape his creditors, as the Duke died £2 million in debt.
I spotted this with the new misses, she had a friday off and we spent it in central doing tourist shit that dickhead tourists do, we got off the bus at westminster bridge and casually strolled up whitehall and on to the mall, which is where i spotted the currant situation. I got all excited, took a couple of phone pics so i would actually remember and went about the rest of the day drinking expensive beer and walking too far. The following day i decided to research a little about the column and came to find out it is crown land, not exactly buckingham palace but still crown land, i then managed to stay away and try not to think about it.
Oddly i ended up re - watching an old channel 4 documentary about base jumper Dan Witchalls and theres a point in the documentary when him and his mate are stood on top of Nelsons column, this made me want it more, and i thought to myself fuck it, gave myself the following day off so i could spend all day in the cells and answer the police questions about what i was doing on the queens property and how very sorry i was.
In the end, it was far easier than i imagined, it took a couple of hours waiting for dickhead pissheads to leave but eventually i popped over the fence and up the scaff, to my amazement, no one official in any capacity turned up and i spent my day off watching the goonies, playing football in the park and drinking cheap sugary cider instead, wish i could say it was loads of effort but it wasn't, easy peasy, pictures suck but i dont care, its been closed well over a 100 years and besides the lads who work there im probaly the first person to slap the duke on his big old head for long long time.
Myself and the Duke of York, or duke of pork... he does weigh tons.
Cheers for looking in...
The Duke of York Column is a monument in London, England, to Prince Frederick, Duke of York, the second eldest son of King George III. The designer was Benjamin Dean Wyatt. It is sited where Regent Street meets The Mall, a purposefully wide endpoint of Regent Street known as Waterloo Place and Gardens, in between the two terraces of Carlton House Terrace and their tree-lined squares. The three very wide flights of steps down to The Mall adjoining are known as the Duke of York Steps.
The column is of the Tuscan order. It is built of granite from Aberdeenshire; a light grey variety was used for the pedestal, a bluer grey type for the base of the shaft, and 'red' Peterhead granite (warm beige) for the rest of the structure. There is an iron railing around the abacus of the capital (narrow main shaft). An top of the column, on a plinth, is a bronze statue of the duke dressed in the robes of the Knights of the Garter, by Sir Richard Westmacott. It is 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) tall, weighs 16,840 pounds (7,640 kg) and was raised to the top on 8 April 1834.
The total height of the monument to the top of the statue is 137 ft 9 in (41.99 m).[3] The statue faces south southeast, and from its base also are views of The Mall and St. James's Park.
Inside the hollow column a spiral staircase of 168 steps, lit by narrow apertures in the wall, leads to the viewing platform around the base of the statue. Given the small, fragile platform and previous high demand for climbing, this staircase has been closed to the public for many decades.
The great height of the column caused contemporary wits to suggest that the Duke was trying to escape his creditors, as the Duke died £2 million in debt.
I spotted this with the new misses, she had a friday off and we spent it in central doing tourist shit that dickhead tourists do, we got off the bus at westminster bridge and casually strolled up whitehall and on to the mall, which is where i spotted the currant situation. I got all excited, took a couple of phone pics so i would actually remember and went about the rest of the day drinking expensive beer and walking too far. The following day i decided to research a little about the column and came to find out it is crown land, not exactly buckingham palace but still crown land, i then managed to stay away and try not to think about it.
Oddly i ended up re - watching an old channel 4 documentary about base jumper Dan Witchalls and theres a point in the documentary when him and his mate are stood on top of Nelsons column, this made me want it more, and i thought to myself fuck it, gave myself the following day off so i could spend all day in the cells and answer the police questions about what i was doing on the queens property and how very sorry i was.
In the end, it was far easier than i imagined, it took a couple of hours waiting for dickhead pissheads to leave but eventually i popped over the fence and up the scaff, to my amazement, no one official in any capacity turned up and i spent my day off watching the goonies, playing football in the park and drinking cheap sugary cider instead, wish i could say it was loads of effort but it wasn't, easy peasy, pictures suck but i dont care, its been closed well over a 100 years and besides the lads who work there im probaly the first person to slap the duke on his big old head for long long time.
Myself and the Duke of York, or duke of pork... he does weigh tons.
Cheers for looking in...
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