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Memorial tower commemorating Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, built by Charles Stewart. Building began in 1806, but it was not completed until six years later in 1812, and was restored after a fire in 1900 by John Forrest. It was designed as a 'monument to departed heroism', and it was paid for through public subscription, which was organised by prominent members of the community. Approximately £610 was raised from 269 subscribers. One of the earliest monuments in Britain to Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson (d.1805), the foundation stone was laid on the 26th August 1806 by James Brodie of Brodie as part of a ceremony attended by all the prominent inhabitants of Forres and the surrounding district. Coins and a parchment scroll were placed under the foundation stone, and after a speech and a prayer, the Forres Volunteers fired three volleys in the air and the procession returned to Forres for a celebration at Maclean's Inn on the High Street. It is an octagonal, four-storey tower circa 70 feet (21 metres) high, surmounted with flagstaff. There are three floors connected by a spiral staircase, and the tower has a diameter of 24 feet (8 metres). It is harled, with ashlar margins. There are simple Gothic windows and door, a corbelled and crenellated parapet and spout gargoyles. Above the doorway is inscribed 'CONDITA AERAE D SINCLAIR INSPECTORE C STEWART ARCHITECTO A SMITH OPIFICE'. On the exterior of the tower there are a number of inscribed panels, which commemorate Nelson's victorious battles at Trafalgar (1805), the Nile (1798) and Copenhagen (1801), and two cannons flank the entrance. The tower also contains a marble memorial to the memory of the men, from Forres and the surrounding district, who died in the South African War (the Second Boer War of 1899-1902). This memorial was unveiled on 22 October 1905 by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, Lord Lieutenant of Moray. The tower appears on Wood's 1823 map with a spire. The flagstaff, bolt, red aircraft warning light and centre (sighting point) at the top of tower are Ordnance Survey trigonometrical survey points (OS trig points) and are depicted on the 5th edition OS map.
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Moray
HER -
NJ05NW0053 - NELSON'S TOWER, CLUNY HILL, FORRES