It is probably a good idea not to go any further with this bawdy traditional ditty sung by irreverent Aussie backpackers over the past half-century.

Suffice to say Trafalgar Square has always been one of the first places in the centre of London visited not only the young tourists from Down Under, but by folk of all ages and all countries.

It is a ‘must see’ like Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and, in more recent years, the giant London Eye ferris wheel.

The name of the square commemorates the Battle of Trafagar, the famous British naval victory by Admiral Horatio Nelson off Spain, on October 21, 1805. It is dominated by the 52m Nelson’s Column, with a sculpture of the seafaring hero at the top, guarded by four bronze statues of lions on its base.

The column is also surrounded by ornamental fountains. Adjacent to the square are the National Gallery, the architecturally stunning St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Charing Cross railway station, and the entrances to The Strand, Whitehall and The Mall, which leads to Buckingham Palace via Admiralty Arch.

But what goes largely unnoticed by the millions of tourists who pass through Trafalgar Square each year, is Britain’s smallest police station.

Bobbies who manned the station could suffer from claustrophobia, as it was so tiny it could accommodate just one officer, or two temporary prisoners if that officer’s stool was taken to the footpath outside.

The tiny station was created in 1926, by carving out the inside of a 100-year-old ornamental stone light in the south east corner of the square. A series of narrow vertical slots were also cut through the granite walls at the same time, so the officer inside could keep watch on political demonstrations in the square. This proved particularly helpful during Britain’s massive general strike in May, 1926.

A phone line linked the cramped officer direct to Scotland Yard. When he made a call to the Yard the ornamental light on top of the police station would begin to automatically flash – alerting other nearby police officers that potential trouble was afoot.

The little station continued to be used for many years by officers patrolling the busy square and, when ultimately closed, it was ignominiously downgraded to a broom cupboard for Westminster City Council street cleaners.

Not only are so few of the visitors to the square today aware of its history, but they are also kept in the dark, so to speak, about the light on top of the former tiny police station. The light has glowed every night for 190 years, except during World War II blackouts. 

More significantly, London legend reckons it had a close link to Nelson himself, having been salvaged from HMS Victory, Lord Nelson’s flagship at Trafalgar.