Did you know?

Nelson’s Column cost £47,000 to build in the 1840s, which is the equivalent of between £3 million and £4 million today. Most of the money came from private investors, with the Tsar of Russia footing more than a quarter of the bill on his own. The statue was constructed out of Dartmoor granite and weighs around 2,500 tonnes. Part of Admiral Nelson’s shoulder was chipped when the column was struck by lightning during a storm in 1896.