Victoria Column

The Victoria Column is a Neo-classical monument dated 1837, designed by G.P. Manners, the city architect, and located within Royal Victoria Park, Bath. It stands on a tripartite base within a circular balustraded enclosure. The column itself is a triangular obelisk approximately 10 metres high, with flattened arrises. The base sweeps outwards and is adorned with a band of Vitruvian scroll moulding. A large triangular plinth, inscribed with wreaths on its arrises, forms the lower section. A thick egg-and-dart cornice runs around the main shaft of the plinth.

A low-relief carving of Princess Victoria, set within an oak-leaf wreath and fillets, is on the west side. The south-west and north-west facets feature square recesses containing the crests of Prince Albert (in bronze) and Queen Victoria (in stone). The arrises of the column sweep outwards to form bases for three lions couchant depicted on stepped plinths.

Inscriptions on the column’s faces record significant events and details: on the east side, the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; on the south-west, an inscription commemorating Princess Victoria's attainment of her majority; and on the north-west, the column’s completion and the reign of Queen Victoria. Further inscriptions detail the birth and death dates, and reign duration, of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

The memorial was originally erected to mark Princess Victoria’s coming-of-age, inaugurated on her Coronation Day, 28th June 1838. It is significant as a prominent landmark in Royal Victoria Park, a striking Neo-classical monument, and as the earliest of several public monuments dedicated to Queen Victoria. Earlier designs for the column included a fountain and a plan to replace the lions with dolphins. The design shows influence from a commemorative lamp post design by Henry Goodridge from 1827, which also featured a triangular plan and sentinel lions. Royal Victoria Park was created in 1830 on former common land and was opened by the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria on October 23rd, 1830, marking the country’s first municipal park.