The Duke of Wellington’s Mounting Stone

Along London’s famous Pall Mall, amongst its many fashionable buildings, you can find one of Britain’s most famous private social clubs, the Athenaeum Club, long famed for its membership, which has encompassed the most powerful gentlemen of British society for almost 200 years.

Outside this prestigious site, is a relic from the time of perhaps the most influential member of the Athenaeum Club. The 19th Century titan, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, famed for defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, and later serving as Prime Minister, was naturally a member of the Athenaeum.

Ever the hippophile, Wellington would often travel the city astride his horse. In his old age, however, dismounting these rides proved to be ever more difficult, and so in 1830, at his request, a mounting stone was installed directly outside the Athenaeum.

The pair of granite stones are often overlooked amongst the splendor of Pall Mall’s surrounding architecture and monuments, but after almost 200 years they remain, still awaiting the dismounting duke.