An imposing landmark
Perched high on St Catherine’s Down, the Hoy Monument is accessible only by walking. Built of local stone, it's also known as the Alexandrian Pillar - 72ft high and capped with a distinctive ball finial.
In praise of the Tsar
Michael Hoy, a successful Russian merchant, had the monument erected to commemorate the visit to Britain, in 1814, of ‘His Imperial Majesty Alexander the 1st, Emperor of all the Russias’.
Tsar Alexander I was held in high esteem by the British because he had dealt a serious blow to Napoleon I’s ambitions to dominate Europe by repelling the French invasion of Russia in 1812.
Although he visited Portsmouth, the Tsar didn't make the short crossing to the Isle of Wight. Nevertheless, Michael Hoy wished to mark the event ‘In Remembrance of many happy Years Residence in his Dominions’ as the inscription on the pillar proclaims.