Waterloo Monument
Tower In Ancrum, Borders
A monument commemorating the Duke of Wellington's victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
Sitting up on the summit of Penielheugh is a 45m (150 foot) Doric column called the Waterloo Monument.
It was erected to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and so is sometimes referred to as the Wellington Monument. However it wasn't initially created to celebrate the final and decisive battle nor was it the monument that was originally requested.
William Kerr (the 6th Marquess of Lothian) had instructed the architect William Burn to create something to honour the Duke's victorious campaigns against the French. A pyramid was built in 1815, but it collapsed 'with a tremendous crash' only one year after its construction.
Rather than asking Burn to have another bash, Kerr commissioned a rival architect called Archibald Elliot and he created the monument you see today in the form of a 'Triumphal Column' in 1817. Local stone was quarried and it took nearly seven years to build.
This time the tower was built in honour of Wellington's triumph at Waterloo.
Although you can get a key from the Lothian Offices to head up the spiral staircase to the top, it was closed when we visited. But we still enjoyed the views from the top by sending up Red5 Drone.
Finally a complication from Red5 Drone.
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How To Find Waterloo Monument
Where Is Waterloo Monument?
Lat / Long
55.529283, -2.550405
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Where To Park For Waterloo Monument?
Lat / Long
55.531843, -2.562643
What three words
We parked in a little parking area just off the main forest track and then it was maybe a 10 minute walk up to the monument. There are other parking spaces and routes up to the top.
Contributed by Simon Hawkins
Thanks for checking out this place on the Fabulous North! I do enjoy a wander out in to the countryside trying to find hidden gems that not many people know about. You can't beat a rogue pele tower up a remote hill, a mysterious stone circle or a stunning waterfall secluded in a forest.
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