London Travel: Apsley House and Wellington Arch

My name is Josephine Oxley. I'm the keeper of the Wellington Collection here at Apsley House. We're standing in the Waterloo Gallery which was the Duke of Wellington's massive extension to the house and that was finished in 1830. As you can see it's palatial and it contains some of the gems of the collection. It was originally built by Lord Bathurst as a country of residence I believe because obviously Knightsbridge at the time was out in the countryside so over to where High Park Corner is it was just fields. People coming from the countryside used to see this house and that's why they called it number one London because it was the first house they saw on the outskirts of London. You may know the Duke of Wellington as this great military commander but what Apsley House shows you is the Duke as a man, how he lived, what his collection was, what his other passions were apart from military. You can see Wellington Arch behind us. It's a London landmark and you can go up on the balconies. Lots of people don't even know that. You might look over just now and see some people there enjoying the sunshine and the views. On top of the arch you'll see the wonderful bronze sculpture called the Quadriga. That was put there in 1905 and it was done by an artist called Adrian Jones and it's the largest bronze sculpture in Europe. We have three floors of exhibitions. We have an exhibition on the history of the arch itself which is quite a chequered history and we also have an exhibition on the Battle of Waterloo. There's a lot for people to see there. It's a great site.