York Column


The York Column is a monument erected in 1822 in the town of Weybridge, Surrey, England. It commemorates Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, Duchess of York, who had lived locally for 30 years. The column, located in Monument Green, is a Grade II listed building and had previously stood in the St Giles area of London, from where it was removed in 1773.

History

Construction

The monument was initially located at the centre of the Seven Dials junction in St Giles, London, and was erected in honour of the Duke of York. In 1694, Member of Parliament and entrepreneur Thomas Neale commissioned sculptor Edward Pierce to erect the column as part of a property development scheme at Seven Dials – part of a major rebuilding programme brought forth in London following the devastation of the Great Fire. The column was crowned with a dial stone with six facets, each with sundials which at the time served as public clocks. The naming of the "Seven Dials" is subject to conjecture; it has been suggested that the column itself serves as the gnomon of the seventh dial.

Removal

In the 18th century, the Seven Dials area "became the haunt of cut-throats, thieves and prostitutes". Hence, in 1773 the London commissioners removed the column to discourage "undesirables". Multiple sources, including the official Survey of London, allege that the pillar had been torn down by a mob to find buried gold or money. The remains of the monument were acquired by architect James Paine who kept them in his house on Sayes Court, Addlestone, initially with the intention of rebuilding it in the park.

Reconstruction

On 6 August 1820, Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, widow of the Duke of York, died at Oatlands in Weybridge after living there thirty years. She was popular in the area, having been a generous benefactor to local causes; and the inhabitants of Weybridge, desirous to honour her memory, purchased the discarded remains of the pillar through a public subscription organised by Mr Joseph Todd, landlord of the nearby Ship Hotel. The column was hence re-erected on Monument Green on 6 August 1822, the second anniversary of the duchess' death. The dial stone, deemed too heavy, was replaced with a ducal coronet, and the base was inscribed in memory of the duchess:
A poem inscribed on the north-west side reads:
The dial stone was moved to the west side of Weybridge Library. The plaque on the top reads:

Seven Dials column replica

The Seven Dials Monument Committee was established in 1984 in an bid to erect a replica of the original monument at the Seven Dials. Following a successful fundraising campaign, the new column, a work by A.D. Mason of Whitfield Partners Architects, was unveiled on 29 June 1989. It is the first monumental column to be erected in London since Nelson’s Column in the late 19th century.

Renovation

The column was cleaned at some point in the second half of 2024.

Architecture

The Tuscan column stands on a pedestal with an engraved poem and eulogy to the duchess of York on the north-west and south-east sides respectively. The shaft is made up of five drums and forms a slight entasis. The capital features an egg-and-tongue echinus beneath the abacus and is crowned by a ducal coronet. The Pevsner Architectural Guides (Buildings of England) series describes it as "oddly thin and skimped... better seen simply as a townscape inflection".