The Admiral Hardy Monument on Black Down Hill near Portesham in the neighbouring county of Dorsetshire.

With the anniversary (21st October) of the Battle of Trafalgar approaching I decided to drive into Dorsetshire to take a look at the Admiral Hardy Monument on Black Down Hill near Portesham. 

The Admiral Hardy Monument on Black Down Hill near Portesham in Dorsetshire.

Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, Baronet, GCB, served as Flag Captain to Nelson in 7 ships including HMS ELEPHANT at Copenhagen in 1801 and HMS VICTORY at Trafalgar in 1805. 

Born on 5th April 1769 at Kingston Russell House near Portesham he joined the Royal Navy in 1781 but came ashore the following year to attend Crewkerne Grammar School in Somerset.  He went back to sea in the merchant service for several years before re-joining the Navy in 1790 as a midshipman on board HMS HEBE.

Serving at sea until 21st October 1827, his final command was an experimental squadron.  Eventually joining the Admiralty board as First Sea Lord in 1830, he left office in 1834.  He died on 20th September 1839 at the Royal Naval Hospital in Greenwich. 

J.K. Laughton writes: “Hardy's enduring fame rests on his connection with Nelson, but his subsequent service afloat and at the Admiralty revealed a man of outstanding good sense and judgement . . .”*

The Admiral Hardy Monument stands on the 780 feet high Black Down Hill, three and a half miles from the Dorsetshire Coast.  The monument itself stands 72 feet high and its eight corners are aligned with the points of the compass.  Built in 1844 from locally quarried stone and paid for by public subscription, it was bought by the National Trust in 1938. 

The view from the Admiral Hardy Monument toward Portland.

The views both inland and seaward, on a clear day, are spectacular.  I believe that from the top of the monument it is possible to see as far as the Mendip Hills 40 miles away, but on this occasion I did not feel inclined to climb the 120 steps to the viewing point! 

Cloudscape and seascape as seen from the Admiral Hardy Monument.

  

Sources:

*J. K. Laughton, ‘Hardy, Sir Thomas Masterman, baronet (1769–1839)’, rev. Andrew Lambert, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12293, accessed 17 Oct 2016]

Nicholas Tracy, ‘Who’s who in Nelson’s Navy’, Chatham Publishing, 2006.