Hardy Monument

50°41′12.39″N 2°32′57.1″W / 50.6867750°N 2.549194°W / 50.6867750; -2.549194

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The Hardy Monument (sometimes referred to as Hardy's Monument) ^[1][2] is a 72-foot-high (22 m) monument on the summit of Black Down in Dorset, erected in 1844^[3] by public subscription in memory of Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, flag captain of Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Admiral Hardy lived in Portesham and his family owned the

. The monument has been shown on navigational charts since 1846 and is visible from a distance of 60 miles (97 km).

The monument is situated on

15.

The monument was designed to look like a spyglass, as Admiral Hardy would have used on board ship. Its eight corners are aligned with the compass points. Viewed from the ground the corner to the right of the lightning conductor points due south. The bench mark on the northwest face denotes the altitude of Black Down at 780 feet (240 m).

From the top of the monument at a height of 850 feet (260 m) above sea level it is possible on a clear day to see the coast from

which is 38 miles (61 km) away.

The monument was closed to the public in 2009 when major renovation work was required. This work was completed in January 2012. To date, the monument is regularly opened during the peak season, where visitors can climb the 120 steps to the viewpoint at the top.

The

decided that the geology of the area was very rare.

The monument was designated as a Grade II listed building in 1956.^[4]

Adjacent to the monument is a stone seat erected in memory of Lt Col William Digby Oswald who was killed on the Somme in 1916.^[5]

Geology

Geologically, Black Down is the western tip of the Bagshot gravel beds. The gravel beds extend to the east as far as London.

The ground around the monument is pitted with various holes and craters. Many of these are

. The water increases in acidity as it percolates through the topsoil then dissolves the underlying chalk. Eventually there is nothing but topsoil above the caverns so formed and the familiar shape of a doline is created when the topsoil collapses into the cavern beneath. Dolines are usually shaped like a teardrop cut in half vertically and laid down horizontally. Within 1,000 m (1,100 yd) of the monument there are three dolines which were formed by the chalk being dissolved in a vertical fissure in its structure. These dolines are vertically sided and are shaped like wells. The two which opened up in 1956 are some 100 m (330 ft) deep. The one which opened in 2006 is not quite vertical and its depth is unknown.

Geodesy

The Hardy Monument was the origin (meridian) of the 6 inch and 1:2500 Ordnance Survey maps for Somerset and Dorset.[6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hardy Monument.

• Hardy Monument information at the National Trust