Monday, December 20, 2010

The Elba Monument, Kendal

The Elba Monument
Kendal
Cumbria

The Elba monument is to be found about a mile North West of Kendal, on Monument Hill just off the A591. You can see it towering above the fields on your right as you drive out towards Windermere.

Above. The monument from the West.

The monument was bankrolled by James Bateman of nearby Tolson Hall, as a memorial to the exile of Napoleon on the island of Elba. There was meant to be a commemorative plaque when it was originally erected, in 1814, but Napoleon escaped his island exile on the 26th of February 1815. It took one hundred years for James Bateman's intended words to appear on the monument.

Above. The monument from the North East.

The commemorative plaque was placed on the monument in 1914, and was paid for by Charles Cropper of Ellergreen. The original plaque appears to never have been found, though it is thought that it was produced and was ready to install when Napoleon left Elba for France.

Above. The commemorative plaque on the monument.

The monument is almost identical to the one on Castle Howe in the middle of Kendal, and was probably designed by the Webster family of architects.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very Interesting. I have driven past this hundreds of times and always wondered what this monument was for.

Unknown said...

I take it that Mr Bateman was not a great fan of the Corsican Emperor...

Tony H

Unknown said...

I went to view the monument as part of a pre-walk for my walking club in September.
I was disappointed not to be able to have public access to the site.
However I did go into the field to look and found a most interesting thing.
When I take my members to this area for our walk in March, I will ask permission from the farmer if we can visit the site , then return to our route along Hollins Road to meet the Dales Way to Staveley.
David Hills , CSSC walking club . Central and East Lancs. area.