Out and About

By Puffin

The Fourth Plinth

In London today, meeting some former work colleagues and friends in a wine bar beneath Charing Cross Station that we have been to,  so very many times before over the years and to our delight had not changed. Got there early to collect a very popular but well hidden geocache at Trafalgar Square from which I had this view of the Fourth Plinth, the plinth that changes. 

If you do not know or have forgotten,  the fourth plinth is the northwest plinth in Trafalgar Square in central London. It was originally intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, but remained empty due to lack of funds. For over 150 years, its use was debated.

 Finally in 2003, the ownership of Trafalgar Square was transferred from Westminster City Council to the Mayor of London and this marked the beginning of the Mayor of London's Fourth Plinth Commission as it is now known.
The current display was erected in September 2022 and will be there until Sept 2024. It restages a 1914 photograph of Baptist preacher and pan-Africanist John Chilembwe and European missionary John Chorley. Chilembwe wears a hat in the presence of Chorley in an act of defiance, as this was illegal at the time. 
If you want to read more background , this is an interesting BBC News article about this display.

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