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The Wellington Monument is a high triangular tower located on the highest point of the Blackdown Hills, south of Wellington in the English county of Somerset. It is a grade II * listed building. The monument was designed to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's victory at the Battle of Waterloo. Construction of the original design commenced in 1817; a revised and cheaper design was eventually used, though, and building was completed in 1854. It is now owned by the National Trust, who closed the monument to the public in 2007, owing to safety concerns. Surveys have shown that extensive renovation work will be needed to reopen the internal staircase to the viewing platform. As of 2015 the work is still ongoing. ==Construction== The monument was erected to celebrate the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington's victory at the Battle of Waterloo. Following his victory at the Battle of Talavera Wellesley was ennobled. As he was abroad his brother chose the name of the Somerset town, because of its similarity to the family name, although Wellesley had never visited it. Parliament awarded him £100,000, and with this he bought two manors in the town, including the land the monument now stands on. The monument was proposed in 1815 by William Sanford of Nynehead Court, and he started a public subscription to pay for it. Within months £1450 had been raised and a design competition was held. The winning entry envisaged a pillar with three cottages at the base to house old soldiers as caretakers. It was designed by Thomas Lee and the foundation stone was laid by Lord Somerville in 1817.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.everythingexmoor.org.uk/encyclopedia_detail.php?ENCid=1046 )〕 By 1818 the column was high but all funds had been spent. Another appeal raised further funds, and the column was raised to by 1820. It was damaged in 1846 when it was struck by lightning. Construction restarted after the Duke's death, and was completed in 1854 by Henry Goodridge,〔 The monument's design was inspired by an Egyptian obelisk, but in the shape of the type of bayonet used by Wellington's armies. with funds raised from local subscribers to commemorate his achievements. The initial designs envisaged a cast iron statue of the Duke on the top of the column with more statues on the plinth, but these were never built.〔 The upper section of the column was restored in 1890 when the pinnacle was raised by .〔 The original plans were for twenty four cannons, captured from the French army at the Battle of Waterloo, to be installed around the base.〔 In 1818 one brass and 15 iron cannons were transported from the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich to Exeter Quayside, but they were never transported to the monument. After years of storage at Exeter ten were sunk into the ground as bollards, and the brass gun sold in 1837 for £64 to cover the storage costs incurred by the local corporation. In 1890, when four guns were requested for the monument as part of a restoration project, they were found to be naval cannons cast in Scotland dating from 1789, and never used at the Battle of Waterloo.〔 Four cannons were eventually installed in 1910, surrounding the monument, but these were removed during the Second World War (1939–1945) for scrap metal to help the war effort.〔 The need for scrap metal fell and they were eventually buried at Watchet. The one cannon remaining at Exeter was brought to the monument in 1977 and finally installed in 1984.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wellington Monument, Somerset」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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