Admiral Rodney's Pillar

Cadw's description

Location

Located at the top point of Breidden Hill, OS datum 345m.

History

Commemorative column, 1781-2, put up in the subject’s lifetime.

George Brydges Rodney (1718-1792) was a controversial figure, seen by contemporaries as both a byword for greed and a national hero. Rodney joined the Royal Navy aged 14 and became a Captain ten years later during the War of the Austrian Succession. He later served in the Seven Years War (during which he became an Admiral) and the American Revolutionary War. He was a Member of Parliament and his electioneering in peace time contributed to financial problems that forced him to live in Paris for several years to avoid his debtors. In January 1780 Rodney commanded the British victory over a Spanish fleet in the Battle of Cape St Vincent and delivered reinforcements and supplies to the besieged British and Hanoverian forces on Gibraltar. Although regarded as a very capable commander he was criticised by Whig politicians and fellow Admirals for putting his own financial gain ahead of military strategy. In 1781 when Rodney’s fleet captured the Dutch colony of Sint Eustatis (ostensibly to cut off supplies of arms to the rebel American colonies) he confiscated a huge quantity of goods from the inhabitants. Jewish men were particularly targeted and Jewish graves on the island were dug up. These actions were criticised by Edmund Burke in Parliament and gave rise to a number of lawsuits against Rodney. He personally promoted John Perkins to be the first Black commanding officer in the Royal Navy. Rodney was in command at the Battle of the Saintes in 1782, when the Royal Navy defeated a French fleet threatening Jamaica and other British colonies in the West Indies, for which Rodney was made a Baron.

Lord Rodney gave evidence in 1788 to the parliamentary select committee appointed to examine the slave trade that he had seen no evidence that Africans were treated with brutality during many years in the West Indies. Rodney also spoke in the House of Lords against the passage of the 1788 Slave Trade Act, arguing regulations aimed at reducing the number of slaves dying during voyages were unnecessary.

Exterior

Breidden deolerite. Plinth raised over two steps, with unmoulded cornice carrying a Doric style column with entasis, capital and abacus, all surmounted by a drum and finial replacing the original gilded ball in 1847 after a lightning strike. Granite panel on west face states it was erected by the 'Gentlemen of Montgomeryshire' to commemorate the naval successes of Sir George Brydges Rodney, Admiral of the White, prior to, and on the eve of his defeat of the French off Dominica, West Indies, in 1782 (Battle of the Saints). Repaired 1847, 1896 and 1983-4. Inscription in Welsh recorded by Rev Roberts of Criggion had disappeared by 1890.

To the NE, triangulation pillar with bench mark S4796.

Reason for designation

Rodney's Pillar is listed for its special architectural interest as a memorial which is a conspicuous historical landmark in and around the Upper Severn Valley, and for its special historic interest as commemorating a controversial eighteenth-century military figure in his own lifetime.