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How much is a piece of nelson pillars worth.

  • 25-07-2013 3:14am
    #1
    Twoandahalfmen
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 769 ✭✭✭


    I remember my late aunt having a piece if this In her house as she ran down and got a piece of it when it was bombed
    I have no idea what ever happened to it.

    Any idea what she could of sold it for


Comments

  • #2
    gobnaitolunacy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭gobnaitolunacy


    Unless you've got his head...in the words of Paul Daniels...'not a lot'.


  • #3
    elfy4eva
    Registered Users Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭elfy4eva


    I think the head is on display in the Dublin Library/Archives on Pearse Street.


  • #4
    corktina
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    very hard to prove a lump of stone came from anywhere in particular


  • #5
    goose2005
    Registered Users Posts: 4,798 ✭✭✭goose2005


    The Little Museum in Dublin have a small piece on display, another museum would probably take it off you but I'd say you'd be unlikely to get any money
    corktina wrote: »
    very hard to prove a lump of stone came from anywhere in particular

    Quite easy for a geologist to tell that it was Gold Hill granite.


  • #6
    jos28
    Registered Users Posts: 7,189 ✭✭✭jos28


    I've got a piece of it too and I often wondered if it was worth anything. I reckon I will just keep it for novelty value so.


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  • #7
    crockholm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭crockholm


    Excuse the naiveity here,but,was there ever an attempt to change the statue at the top,so that our explosive-inclined citizens wouldn't have taken it upon themselves to destroy a piece of built history/heritage for the succeeding generations?


  • #8
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    I was six when the pillar was blown up so I don't remember it but it was a popular meeting place for Dubliners. The Nelson Pillar, the Hill of Howth tram and the Dublin Zoo - the three 'must sees' of Dublin back in the day - sadly only one survives. I never heard of any suggestion of an alternative to Nelson but it's an interesting thought.


  • #9
    crockholm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭crockholm


    Judgement Day wrote: »
    I was six when the pillar was blown up so I don't remember it but it was a popular meeting place for Dubliners. The Nelson Pillar, the Hill of Howth tram and the Dublin Zoo - the three 'must sees' of Dublin back in the day - sadly only one survives. I never heard of any suggestion of an alternative to Nelson but it's an interesting thought.

    Lots of strange things about it,if they had just replaced the statue on top,and in it's stead installed whomever was popular at the time,then people would have even droppen the "Nelson"name from it.Nobody today refers to our main street as Sackville street.

    What I found most disturbing was the whole psychology behind it-unmandated terrorists/men of conscience took it upon themselves to bomb a public meeting place in the capital,a public monument(correct me if I am wrong)and thankfully are somewhat incompetent in it's demolition.

    The tragedy being,that the City and Government,instead of being resilliant and refuse to be dictated to by masked unelected men and rebuilding the structure as an act of defiance and decourm,actually employ the army to finish the job for them:eek:


  • #10
    jonniebgood1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,577 ✭✭✭jonniebgood1


    There were some attempts to change the statue at different stage, and also to remove it. I will dig out some more information on this over weekend.


  • #11
    jonniebgood1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,577 ✭✭✭jonniebgood1


    The pillar was for one thing a traffic hazard even back in the 19th century.
    A plan for Dublin, displayed in the Great Exhibition of 1853, provided for removal of the Pillar and The Irish Builder thought that its removal was the only sensible aspect of that plan. In 1876 Dublin Corporation discussed its removal and re-erection in one of the city squares but the debate fizzled out as members realised that they had no rights in the matter. The Pillar was vested in independent trustees by act of parliament, one of whom was another Arthur Guinness.
    The Pillar blocked traffic between Henry Street to Talbot Street, fouling up traffic on O’Connell Street itself. One way streets were far in the future and heavily laden drays determined the pace of city traffic. In 1881, Dublin’s major transport and distributing companies—Pickfords, Findlaters, Thomas Street Distillery, two major railway and carter companies and the ubiquitous Arthur Guinness—sponsored a bill in Westminster to permit movement of the Pillar to where the Parnell monument stands today. http://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/nelsons-pillar/

    The proposal to replace him saw Pearse being the figure remembered in his place:
    The underlying political significance of the removal of Nelson’s Pillar came to the fore
    during a Dublin Corporation debate in 1931 when some councillors pointed to the shame
    inherent in having “Nelson in the middle of the Capital city, while such Irishmen as Red Hugh
    O’Neill, Patrick Sarsfield, Brian Boru, and Wolfe Tone had no memorials. The deeds of such
    heroes should not be concealed from the youth of Ireland!” (Irish Press, 9th December 1931).
    Some years later in 1949 the authority passed a resolution “that the statue of Lord Nelson in
    O’Connell Street should be removed and replaced by that of Patrick Pearse” (Minutes of the
    Corporation of Dublin, (hereafter Minutes), 1948, no. 219). http://www.ucd.ie/gsi/pdf/34-2/sack-2.pdf

    The second link in particular is a good read to anyone interested.


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  • #12
    gobnaitolunacy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭gobnaitolunacy


    crockholm wrote: »
    Excuse the naiveity here,but,was there ever an attempt to change the statue at the top,so that our explosive-inclined citizens wouldn't have taken it upon themselves to destroy a piece of built history/heritage for the succeeding generations?

    There were various proposals to replace it with a patriot or (unsurprisingly) the Virgin Mary.


  • #13
    jonniebgood1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,577 ✭✭✭jonniebgood1


    gobnaitolunacy wrote: »
    There were various proposals to replace it with a patriot or (unsurprisingly) the Virgin Mary.

    Without wishing to be controversial I do not see why Nelson needed to be removed. Surely that his pillar was in the centre of Dublin in an independent Ireland was enough of a reminder that things change without the need to physically remove it. Seeing it a link to colonial times was a very pessimistic outlook when it could have been viewed as part of what had been, but was no more...


  • #14
    gobnaitolunacy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭gobnaitolunacy


    There were a couple of equestrian type statues that got de-plinthed/melted down or otherwise destroyed.
    One Irish based Queen Vic statue ended up in Sydney and another was buried in the grounds of UCC for many years.


  • #15
    crockholm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭crockholm


    gobnaitolunacy wrote: »
    There were various proposals to replace it with a patriot or (unsurprisingly) the Virgin Mary.

    Or St Patrick:D


  • #16
    crockholm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭crockholm


    jonniebgood1 wrote: »
    Without wishing to be controversial I do not see why Nelson needed to be removed. Surely that his pillar was in the centre of Dublin in an independent Ireland was enough of a reminder that things change without the need to physically remove it. Seeing it a link to colonial times was a very pessimistic outlook when it could have been viewed as part of what had been, but was no more...

    Whereas I agree with your sentiment,I can also appreciate the counterveiw which sadly resulted in the destruction of the monument.

    The memory of British rule was much fresher to the minds of the perpetrators,as for myself it is only known from history books and oral family history. I still wish that they didn't do it,just the same as I wish the "big" houses were still standing,and in no way condone their actions,hypothetically speaking,I would judge their actions with more leniency than had said bombing taken place in the 90s.

    Perhaps it could have been Dublins "Big Ben" or "Arc de'Triomphe",a world-wide city icon.

    Kudos also to JBG1,for the more in-depth history and machinations surrounding the fate of the pillar,the same sort of intransigence and malaise that ultimately doomed the monument is alive and kicking and will certainly result in the future loss of more of our built heritage.


  • #17
    corktina
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    Like it or not, Nelson, Queen Victoria, Oliver Cromwell, William the Conqueror, Henry VIII and all the other boys are part of Ireland's History. It beats me why anyone could think they could change anything by destroying something.


  • #18
    robp
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,934 ✭✭✭robp


    crockholm wrote: »
    Whereas I agree with your sentiment,I can also appreciate the counterveiw which sadly resulted in the destruction of the monument.

    The memory of British rule was much fresher to the minds of the perpetrators,as for myself it is only known from history books and oral family history. I still wish that they didn't do it,just the same as I wish the "big" houses were still standing,and in no way condone their actions,hypothetically speaking,I would judge their actions with more leniency than had said bombing taken place in the 90s.

    Perhaps it could have been Dublins "Big Ben" or "Arc de'Triomphe",a world-wide city icon.

    It was fairly reckless to blow it up as was done. I guess if it wasn't removed it would have been part of the Dublin's tourist landscape but it is so like the other statue of Nelson in London it might not have been a unique sight.


  • #19
    gobnaitolunacy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭gobnaitolunacy


    robp wrote: »
    It was fairly reckless to blow it up as was done. I guess if it wasn't removed it would have been part of the Dublin's tourist landscape but it is so like the other statue of Nelson in London it might not have been a unique sight.

    The Irish Army did more damage to surrounding buildings than 'the boys' in a hare-brained attempt to remove it with another blast.


  • #20
    robp
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,934 ✭✭✭robp


    gobnaitolunacy wrote: »
    The Irish Army did more damage to surrounding buildings than 'the boys' in a hare-brained attempt to remove it with another blast.

    True lol. That is an amusing fact alright.

    Though atleast the Irish army evacuated the place first. The IRA didn't.


  • #21
    crockholm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭crockholm


    robp wrote: »
    It was fairly reckless to blow it up as was done. I guess if it wasn't removed it would have been part of the Dublin's tourist landscape but it is so like the other statue of Nelson in London it might not have been a unique sight.

    It was older than the one in London,and to be fair-Trafalgar Square is one of Londons top tourist attractions.
    At no point would I argue that it wasn't reckless or myopic or idiotic or selfish,I really wish it was still there-irregardless of whomevers statue was on the podium.As jbg1 link showed, there was a lot of stalling,and a lot of bluster when it came to what should become of it,and it kept happening until some very undemocratic people decided that it didn't fit into their narrative of Irish history.

    Like the poster corktina,it wouldn't bother me,as it is part of a shared history that cannot be either sanitized or demonized,and for those very reasons,I cannot understand the "modern Ireland" unwillingness to help preserve,if not,restore the houses associated with Wellington in Meath and Kitchener in Kerry.


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