Editing Trafalgar Square (section)

=== Nelson's Column ===
[[File:London,_Trafalgar_Square,_Nelson's_Column_--_2016_--_4851.jpg|thumb|[[Nelson's Column]]]]
[[File:TrafalgarSquareLion.JPG|thumb|The lions at [[Nelson's Column]] were not finished until nearly 30 years after the square opened.]]
[[Nelson's Column]] was planned independently of Barry's work. In 1838 a Nelson Memorial Committee had approached the government proposing that a monument to the victory of Trafalgar, funded by public subscription, should be erected in the square. A competition was held and won by the architect [[William Railton]], who proposed a {{convert|218|ft|3|in|m|adj=on}} [[Corinthian order|Corinthinan]] column topped by a statue of Nelson and guarded by four sculpted lions. The design was approved, but received widespread objections from the public. Construction went ahead beginning in 1840 but with the height reduced to {{convert|145|ft|3|in|m}}.{{sfn|Moore|2003|p=177}} The column was completed and the statue raised in November 1843.{{sfn|Mace|1976|page= 90}}

The last of the bronze reliefs on the column's pedestals was not completed until May 1854, and the four lions, although part of the original design, were only added in 1867.{{sfn|Mace|1976|pp=107–8}} Each lion weighs seven tons.<ref>{{Citation|title=Bow Bells – A Magazine of General Literature|year=1867|publisher=John Dicks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5M0aAQAAMAAJ&q=Landseer+seven+tons&pg=PA233|access-date=31 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402082531/https://books.google.de/books?id=5M0aAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA233&dq=Landseer+seven+tons&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjo04T8-YPTAhWM1ywKHSVhD00Q6AEIJjAB#v=onepage&q=Landseer%20seven%20tons&f=false|archive-date=2 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> A hoarding remained around the base of Nelson's Column for some years and some of its upper scaffolding remained in place.<ref>{{cite news |title=Opening of Trafalgar Square |newspaper=The Times |date=31 July 1839 |page=6 }}</ref> Landseer, the sculptor, had asked for a lion that had died at the [[London Zoo]] to be brought to his studio. He took so long to complete sketches that its corpse began to [[decomposition|decompose]] and some parts had to be improvised. The statues have paws that resemble cats more than lions.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/london/11268400/Londons-secret-sights-16-more-odd-attractions-you-never-knew-were-there.html?frame=3155177|title=The faulty lions of Trafalgar Square|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=16 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117111724/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/london/11268400/Londons-secret-sights-16-more-odd-attractions-you-never-knew-were-there.html?frame=3155177|archive-date=17 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

Barry was unhappy about Nelson's Column being placed in the square. In July 1840, when its foundations had been laid, he told a parliamentary select committee that "it would in my opinion be desirable that the area should be wholly free from all insulated objects of art".<ref name=report>{{Citation |title=Report from the Select Committee on Trafalgar Square together with the Minutes of Evidence|year=1840 |publisher=Printed by the House of Commons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xFcAAAAQAAJ|access-date=6 October 2011}}</ref>

In 1940 the [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] developed secret plans to transfer Nelson's Column to [[Berlin]]{{efn|Hitler had specifically requested that all of [[Rembrandt]]'s paintings in the National Gallery be seized as part of the move, as he particularly admired the artist's work.{{sfn|Longmate|2012|p=137}}}} after an expected [[Operation Sea Lion|German invasion]], as related by [[Norman Longmate]] in ''If Britain Had Fallen'' (1972).{{sfn|Longmate|2012|p=137}}

The square has been Grade I listed on the [[Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England|Register of Historic Parks and Gardens]] since 1996.<ref name=NHLEGarden>{{NHLE|num=1001362|desc=Trafalgar Square|access-date=11 July 2017|mode=cs2}}</ref>