We were talking about great naval battles which inevitably ended up on Nelson and his heroic deeds. On thinking about this I started to wonder, what were the names of Trafalgar Square and Waterloo in London before their respective battles or did they not exist? I would be very greatfull if you would lay this to rest.
Cheers, Tom
Well Waterloo’s a station, it didn’t exist before the battle of Waterloo. Trafalgar square was probably called Charing Cross before then as Charing Cross is right next to the square.
Like plenty of other squares in London, Trafalgar Square was built by John Nash in the 1820s to replace a congested network of streets. Piccadilly Circus is another famous example.
According to this BBC site, Trafalgar Square was started in 1840 and completed five years later, designed by Sir Charles Barry, not John Nash in the 1820s. Nash suggested that the “filthy and disreputable abodes” of the Mews be replaced. It was, as has been said earlier, the old site for the Charing Cross of Edward I’s time.
I should’ve said planned rather than built by Nash then (although I did know that Barry designed most of what we can see there today). George IV seems to take the credit for the original idea.
This page explains the pre-history of Trafalgar Square in greater detail. The key point was that because the land was owned by the Crown, having previously been the Royal Mews, it was a simple matter to convert it into a public square. Interestingly, the recent closure of the road on the north side has restored the layout of the streets roughly to their original plan.