The cornerstone was laid on 16 December 1864, but lack of money in the fledgling city saw construction halted in late 1865. At the start of the project, Christchurch was still a small town (its male population numbering only 450) and raising funds for construction proved to be difficult. Commentators of the time voiced their disappointment at the lack of progress – the novelist Anthony Trollope visited in 1872 and referred to the "vain foundations" as a "huge record of failure".