9503

 

II  

Designated  

19/05/1981  

30/06/2023  

The Picton Monument  

 

Carmarthenshire  

Carmarthen  

Carmarthen  

 

240270  

219951  

 

Situated in island in middle of road at top of Picton Terrace.  

Commemorative  

Industrial  

Obelisk memorial of 1847-9 to Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton (1758-1815), who was the most senior officer to die at the battle of Waterloo, which brought the French Wars to an end. Born in Pembrokeshire, Picton first joined the British Army aged 13 and in 1794 volunteered for service in the West Indies. When Trinidad was captured from Spain in 1797 Picton was appointed as military Governor. Picton used torture and public executions to control the enslaved population while accumulating great personal wealth through ownership of slaves and plantations. His violent methods were controversial and he was forced to resign as Governor in 1803 and return to Britain where he faced legal proceedings. He was arrested, tried and convicted of permitting the torture of 14-year-old Luisa Calderon (1787-1825), but his conviction was overturned on the grounds that torture was permissible in Spanish law, which still applied in Trinidad. The publicity given to the case influenced contemporary debates about the slave trade. From 1810 onwards Picton earned accolades for his service in the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France and in 1813 he was elected MP for Pembroke. In 1815 he was amongst nearly 5,000 allied British, Dutch, Hanoverian and Prussian soldiers killed in the battle of Waterloo. Picton is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. The obelisk replaces a large memorial designed in 1824 by John Nash, an ardent advocate of the neoclassical revival, and built 1825-8 as a column, with bas-relief decoration and a statue of Picton by prolific sculptor Edward H. Baily (1788–1867). When built, it dominated the approach to Carmarthen from the west, which was then undeveloped. However, the choice of “roman” cement proved poor, and the reliefs crumbled within a few years. Baily made replacement friezes but these were never used, and the monument was largely dismantled in 1846. Part of a replacement relief frieze is in Carmarthen Museum. The replacement monument was designed by Francis E.H. Fowler (1819-1893), also as a column with statue, but changed to an obelisk with lions around, the lions then omitted to save money, and cannon used instead (since removed). Fowler may not have designed the final obelisk, as James L. Collard is also named as architect. The choice of the obelisk form is a likely reflection of contemporary antiquarian interests as the Continent and Near East reopened to British tourists following the Battle of Nile (1798) and of Waterloo, but it has a long history in the UK going back to the Renaissance when travellers to Italy were inspired by examples they had seen in Rome. Ultimately it is a sculptural form derived from Ancient Egyptian precedent. It was used in a range of contexts in the C18 and C19 – funerary, decorative and here, commemorative. Truncated as unsafe in 1984 but rebuilt on stronger foundations in 1988. Part of the original Nash monument was found within the existing structure during dismantling.  

Neoclassical obelisk approximately 24m high in tooled grey limestone on panelled pedestal, inscribed in raised capital letters: 'Picton born August 24 1758 Fell at Waterloo June 18 1815' on 2 sides and the names of his battles on the other 2 sides: Busaco, Badajos, Vittoria, Orthes, Toulouse, and Waterloo. Diagonal plain plinths extend from corners.  

 

Included, notwithstanding reconstruction and Picton’s culpability in crimes against humanity, as a good example of the obelisk form, for townscape value in distant views of Carmarthen, and as a landmark on a grand scale; and for historical interest as a memorial to a highly contentious historical figure and his death in the Napoleonic Wars.