The Mall

The Mall is the broad triumphant road running from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. Bordered by St James’ Park and Green Park, the Mall is a place of both ceremony and sporting achievement, as it hosts the finish of the London Marathon as well as being the site of some of the most memorable scenes of Royal celebration. The Mall is used during visits by foreign heads of state and visiting dignitaries, who are driven by ceremonial carriage along the Mall, which is decked out in flags of the host and visiting nations, to the Palace.

Entry to the Mall from Trafalgar Square is through Admiralty Arch, a five arched gateway commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his mother, Queen Victoria. Completed in 1912, it adjoins other Admiralty buildings and allows traffic to pass through its arches. The central arch is only used on state occasions for royal access.

A famous feature of Admiralty Arch is its "nose". On the inside wall of the northernmost arch there is a small protrusion the size and shape of a human nose. The nose would sit at waist height for anyone riding through the arch on a horse. Tradition holds that it is Napoleon's nose and it was rubbed by anyone riding through the arch.

The Mall was originally laid out by King Charles II as a course for the popular French game of Paille Maille, a game similar to croquet. The game had originally been played along nearby Pall Mall, to which the game gives its name, but the street became so busy that it interfered with the games. It was not until the reign of Queen Victoria that the Mall was redesigned as a grand ceremonial route to Buckingham Place, the design copied from cities such as Paris, Berlin and Washington DC.

Paille Maille illustrated in Old English Sports, Pastimes and Customs, published 1891

Just to the south of Admiralty Arch you will find a solid brown fortress called the Citadel. This is a bomb proof bunker built during the Second World War and running beneath the Mall is a network of tunnels connecting it with Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street and various government offices.

In front of the gates of Buckingham Palace you will find the Queen Victoria Memorial, placed there in 1911. It has a large statue of Queen Victoria accompanied with bronze statues of the Angels of Justice, Truth and Charity. The memorial has a strong nautical theme representing British naval power.