please empty your brain below
We would have lost the batttle if the Prussians had not turned up (although Wellington would not have fought if they had not said they would: similarly, the Prussians only fought at Ligny on the 16th because Wellington said he would turn up, but he got stuck at Quatre Bras, so the Prussians lost then). A much better name would be the Battle of Belle Alliance, the name of the inn near the middle of the battlefield, where Blucher and Wellington met that evening.

The village of Waterloo is some distance north of the battle site, but was the place from where Wellington wrote his dispatch (which was published in a special edition of the London Gazette, and so was taken to be the place of the battle).

Andrew | 18.06.15 - 7:21 a.m. | #

I think Waterloo Bridge was completed in WWII by a largely female workforce and known for a short while as the 'Ladies' Bridge'.

Sara | 18.06.15 - 7:44 a.m. | #

"One of London Underground's eleven lines is named after the Battle of Waterloo"

Two, because Bakerloo.

Greg | 18.06.15 - 9:40 a.m. | #

Waterloo Place is a constant source of confusion: so many phone conversations with the Boris Bike staff when I'm looking for any empty docking point near Waterloo Station include the information "Waterloo Place has plenty of space"

If you put "Waterloo" into the National Rail station finder you may be a little/a> surprised

timbo | 18.06.15 - 9:43 a.m. | #

Then there is Waterlooville in Hampshire. But I suspect that's a bit far afield.

Bronchitikat | Homepage | 18.06.15 - 10:11 a.m. | #

Waterloo East Stn. forgotten again :-(

| 18.06.15 - 10:31 a.m. | #

Tradition has it that Waterlooville has a better claim to a connection with the original marshy field in what was then the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, because it is the first pub at which returning veterans called after disembarking at Portsmouth, and some of them never left the area.

timbeau | 18.06.15 - 10:47 a.m. | #

Indeed, Sara. There was also a temporary "Bailey" style metal girder bridge in place from 1924 while the permanent Waterloo Bridge was replaced. It was dismantled after the new bridge opened, and (as I understand it) it was shipped over Europe and used bridge the Rhine at Remagen.

See http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/sites/default/files/scan0004_1.jpg

There were several other temporary bridges other the Thames during the Second World War - see http://alondoninheritance.com/the-thames/a-wartime-temporary-bridge-and-county-hall/ for more about the temporary bridge between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge, crossing from Victoria Embankment to (what is now) Jubilee Gardens.

Andrew | 18.06.15 - 10:57 a.m. | #

The real Waterloo station
[Streetview]

timbo | 18.06.15 - 11:01 a.m. | #

Don't forget the other Waterloo Station on Merseyrail. Also the sunsets at that Waterloo, looking out over Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea are far more spectacular that those from Waterloo Bridge looking out over ... er ... Battersea.

John R | 18.06.15 - 12:06 p.m. | #

So Waterloo station was named after Waterloo bridge and not the other way around? Most educational today DG, thanks.

@JuhnR - this views from Waterloo Bridge are terrific. You can see much of London, but you'd have to be extraordinarily tall to see Battersea

Nick | 18.06.15 - 12:38 p.m. | #

Talking of Waterloo Place, the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall, but flanked by Waterloo Place, has a Waterloo Room. A 15ft chandelier was gifted to (then tenants) the United Services Club by George IV to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo. It hangs above its main staircase. There's also a 16ft-wide oil painting of the battle on display.

| 18.06.15 - 1:05 p.m. | #

Andrew

The Prusssians did exactly what you suggest. In Berlin a circus at the south end of The Friedrichstadt, previously known as Rondell, was renamed Belle-Alliance-Platz on 22 October 1815. A Victory column or Siegessäule was erected in the centre of the circus.

A street and U-Bahn station named after the Belle Alliance followed.
http://www.alt-berlin.info/cgi/stp/lana.pl?nr=21&gr=5&nord=52.497379&ost=13.394462

The area was destroyed in a February 1945 air raid. The name fell victim to the Victorious French Allies cleansing of historical monuments after World War Two. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehringplatz

The victory column survives today

IsarSteve | 18.06.15 - 1:56 p.m. | #

Waterloo Place also has a little memorial to Giro the Nazi dog. What we now think of as the ICA was, prior to WW2, the German embassy and Giro was von Ribbentrop's dog. When war was obviously imminent the diplomats all retreated home, but the dog stayed on until run over in the street. I've heard it suggested, but never confirmed, that knowing the whereabouts of this memorial is part of The Knowledge for cabbies.

Martin L | 18.06.15 - 2:28 p.m. | #

I was going to put a note about Bakerloo being a portmanteau word coined by The Times, IIRC, as a shorthand version of the Baker Street to Waterloo railway.

A similar situation almost arose with the Waterloo - Bank railway... ;)

Uncle Audrey | 18.06.15 - 3:09 p.m. | #

I'm fairly sure that the town of Waterloo is closer to its battlefield than Hastings is to its. (I think it's actually quite common to call battles after the victorious general's base.)

Andrew M | 18.06.15 - 6:05 p.m. | #

Staff dressed in period artillery costume would have made my day.

welshkaren | 18.06.15 - 6:35 p.m. | #

I have been to Waterloo station in Belgium but alas did not have time to visit the battleground due to visiting Ypres later in the day.

Speaking of naming stations after battles Paris Austerlitz is a reminder of better times for blownapart.

Rick | 20.06.15 - 1:51 a.m. | #











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