Wellington @ Aldershot

Today the Wellington Statue can be seen on the skyline as one drives along the A325 past the Aldershot Military Camp, though today rather than surveying the encampment he looks over yet another sea of housing estates being built on parts of the site. Still, he is used to change.

The massive 30ft high statue was sculpted by Matthew Cotes Wyatt and in 1846 was moved in a grand procession from Wyatt's workshop to Hyde Park Corner where it was erected on the unfinished victory arch. The choice of both sculptor and location was originally considered controversial, but thoughts of moving it while the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) was alive were felt to be disrespectful to him, and people eventually got used to it.  However by 1882 traffic congestion at Hyde Park Corner caused the need to realign the victory arch, and the controversy was re-ignited.  The Government decided to replace the statue with one of Victory, and looked around for a new location for the Duke.

His sheer size meant there was nowhere in London suitable, and eventually the Prince of Wales suggested that the statue be taken to the great military Camp in Aldershot "where it will be highly regarded by the Army". It was transported (in bits) and re-erected here in 1883.

By the 2000's he had been largely neglected and was hidden by trees and undergrowth, but in 2004 a programme of conservation was undertaken, and the bushes cut back so that once more you can see him from the road.