No monument in the history of Ireland has proven quite as controversial as the Nelson Pillar on O'Connell Street. Erected in the early 19th century, the column in honour of Admiral Horatio Nelson was ultimately blown to pieces by a bomb in 1966, planted by members of a left-wing republican faction. The story of the Pillar and its location involves many famous Dublin names and characters, from Arthur Guinness to James Joyce, and W. B. Yeats to The Dubliners. This book examines the life of the Nelson Pillar site, looking at what was there before the monument as well as the afterlife of the Pillar, and brings the story right up to its eventual replacement with the Spire of Light.
