National Heroes Square, formerly Trafalgar Square, is located in

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the Parishes of Barbados, parish of Saint Michael, Barbados, Saint Mic ...

, the capital and principal commercial centre of the island-nation of

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

. The square lies along Upper Broad Street and is on the northern shore of the Careenage ("Constitution River"), found directly in the centre of Bridgetown.

Name

The current name of National Heroes Square was adopted on 22 April 1999 and officially took effect on 28 April 1999. The name refers to the

Barbadian National Heroes The Order of National Heroes is the supreme honour within the national honours system of Barbados and was established by the Order of National Heroes Act 1998 by the Parliament of Barbados. Members are referred to as National Heroes, and are ...

. In 2009, the government of David Thompson opened up a proposal to rename the square as ''Parliament Square'', and to completely redevelop and reconfigure the Square's layout.

Statue of Lord Nelson

Until 2020, a bronze statue of British naval hero Vice Admiral Horatio, Lord Nelson was a fixture of the Square on the west end. The statue in Bridgetown had been unveiled on 22 March 1813 to commemorate the anniversary of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

's victory in the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

in 1805, and was erected approximately 27 years before the more famous

Nelson's Column Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, Central London, built to commemorate Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's decisive victory at the Battle of Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish navies, during whi ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, which serves as the centrepiece of

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

. As a point of reference, the statue of Nelson served as the geographic centre of Bridgetown. Since the colonial period many distances on the island from Bridgetown have historically been measured from the base of Nelson's statue, so that the statue functioned as Barbados' mile zero. The use of the Bajan Nelson statue as a centring point is similar to the London statue in the British capital; however, Trafalgar Square is adjacent to the actual historic and geographic centre of London, which is actually located, immediately to the east, in

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

. The monument which serves as London's exact centre is therefore not of Nelson, but the equestrian statue of Charles I, at Charing Cross, facing down Whitehall, standing where the Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross had previously stood before being moved to the Charing Cross railway station forecourt. Since 2020, the statue has been relocated to the Barbados Museum.

Gallery

File:Bridgetown, Barbados, April 2007.jpg, View of the west wing of the Barbados Parliament Building from National Heroes Square. File:Heroes Square, Bridgetown (2000).jpg, The Cenotaph War Memorial, the Fountain Gardens, and Department of Inland Revenue in the background, November 2000. File:Lord Nelson, Nelson's Statue (close), Barbados.jpg, Lord Nelson's statue in

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, November 2000 (close-up). File:Lord Nelson, Nelson's Statue, Barbados.jpg, Lord Nelson's statue in

, November 2000. File:Heroes Square fountain, Bridgetown (2000).jpg, This fountain commemorates the introduction of piped water in Bridgetown. It was built in 1865.

References

External links

Photo of Lord Nelson statue located in Bridgetown
in

Buildings and structures in Bridgetown Squares in Barbados National squares 1813 establishments in the British Empire {{Barbados-geo-stub