Nelson's Monument is a commemorative tower to Vice Admiral Viscount Admiral Horatio Nelson, situated on top of Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built between 1807 and 1815 to commemorate Nelson's victory over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The monument was designed by Robert Burn to look like an upturned telescope. A castellated building designed by Thomas Bonnar which forms a base to the tower was added between 1814 and 1816.

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  • Nelson's Monument is a commemorative tower to Vice Admiral Viscount Admiral Horatio Nelson, situated on top of Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built between 1807 and 1815 to commemorate Nelson's victory over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The monument was designed by Robert Burn to look like an upturned telescope. A castellated building designed by Thomas Bonnar which forms a base to the tower was added between 1814 and 1816. On top of the tower is a mast. This replaced an existing mast on the site, and from 1853 acted as a time-keeper to the ships in Edinburgh's port of Leith, and to ships at the anchorage in the Firth of Forth known as Leith Roads, allowing the ships to set their chronometers. It was important for mariners to know the exact time so that they could navigate the seas therefore at precisly 1pm every afternoon a gun is fired from Edinburgh Castle as a time signal. However, as it takes over 10 seconds for the sound to travel the 2 miles to Leith Harbour a time ball is dropped from atop the mast on Nelson's monument on weekdays at exactly 1pm as the gun sounds to act as a more accurate visual aid to mariners. The time ball can still be seen today, raising from 5 minutes before 1pm, then dropping sharply as the 1 o'clock gun is fired. A joke holds that it's easy to distinguish the tourists from the locals at this point: when the gun goes off, the tourists jump while the locals check their watches.
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  • Nelson's Monument is a commemorative tower to Vice Admiral Viscount Admiral Horatio Nelson, situated on top of Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built between 1807 and 1815 to commemorate Nelson's victory over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The monument was designed by Robert Burn to look like an upturned telescope. A castellated building designed by Thomas Bonnar which forms a base to the tower was added between 1814 and 1816.
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  • Nelson's Monument
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