I am not done with Trim. Besides the cathedral with its Trollopian politics (see I’m a Believer?) two famous people lived just outside, on the road to Summerhill. Indeed my sister and brother-in-law live on that road too.
I refer first to Jonathan Swift, ordained into the Church of Ireland, who had the living at Laracor. He regarded the appointment as a sinecure and only visited the parish to see his intimate friend, Stella, whose cottage is down the road.
Secondly, Arthur Wesley spent his childhood at Dangan Castle near Summerhill. Dangan in the 18th century was a substantial estate with the gardens alone covering 600 acres. In the 19th century it became a ruin but Arthur is not forgotten in Trim. There is a 75 foot high column with a statue of him, waving, at the top. It’s confusing because Arthur changed his name to Wellesley and now is better known as the first Duke of Wellington.
He was twice elected Member of Parliament for Trim, not difficult as it was a “rotten borough” and anyway Catholics could not vote. There are so many other memorials to him. There is an equestrian statue on Hyde Park Corner and the arch there is called the Wellington Arch, though another massive (it was the largest equestrian statue in the country when it was erected in 1847) statue on top of it was moved to Aldershot where it still is. Queen Victoria couldn’t stand the Duke and the bronze, almost on her doorstep, irked her. Here it is.
I have my own modest memorial to the Duke. It is this print of him saluting a statue of Achilles in Hyde Park. It is of interest because it was published, by Rudolph Ackermann, on 14th September 1852, the day he died.
The inscription on the statue reads thus:
To Arthur Duke of Wellington
and his brave companions in arms
this statue of Achilles
cast from cannon taken in the victories
of Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, and Waterloo
is inscribed
by their country women
Placed on this spot
on the XVIII day of June MDCCCXXII
by command of
His Majesty George IIII.
I was unaware that any photograph of Wellington exists until I received this one, taken by Antoine Claudet, this morning from Charles Woodruff.
