Hardy Monument

The Hardy Monument stands on Black Down, a hill near Portesham in Dorset. It is a tall stone tower built in 1844 to honour Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, who served as Nelson’s flag captain at Trafalgar. The monument was paid for by public donations and has belonged to the National Trust since 1938. Visitors can climb 120 steps to reach the top, where a wide view opens over the surrounding landscape. The site was chosen because the Hardy family wanted a landmark visible to ships at sea. Since 1846 it has appeared on navigational charts as a key point for sailors. The tower was designed to resemble a ship’s spyglass, with eight corners pointing to the compass directions. From the ground, the corner beside the lightning conductor faces due south. A bench mark on the northwest face records the hill’s height at 240 metres above sea level. On clear days the view stretches from Start Point in Devon to St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight, a distance of 90 kilometres. To the north, Pen Hill in the Mendip Hills can be seen 61 kilometres away. Next to the monument is a stone seat placed in memory of Lieutenant Colonel William Digby Oswald, who died at the Somme in 1916. The tower itself is a Grade II listed building, restored in 1900 by Hardy’s descendants and again between 2009 and 2012. It once marked the starting line for Ordnance Survey maps of Somerset and Dorset at six-inch and 1:2500 scales. The open hilltop around the tower offers wide skies and sweeping horizons in every direction.