The Jurassic Skyline tower (known until mid-2015 as the Weymouth Sea Life Tower) was an observation tower on

Weymouth Pier Weymouth Pier is a peninsula between Weymouth Harbour and Weymouth Beach, in Dorset, England. It was intended to extend Weymouth's esplanade, and consists of a theatre, Weymouth Pavilion; pleasure pier; car parking and a cross-channel ferry te ...

Weymouth, Dorset Weymouth is a seaside town in Dorset, on the English Channel coast of England. Situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey, south of the county town of Dorchester, Weymouth had a population of 53,427 in 2021. It is the third l ...

, England. It was situated next to

Weymouth Beach __NOTOC__ Weymouth Beach is a gently curving arc of sand in Weymouth Bay, beside the town of Weymouth in Dorset, England. Immediately adjacent to the beach is The Esplanade. The beach is a popular destination for sea bathing, and was frequ ...

and the Weymouth Pavilion, where it overlooked Weymouth town, the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

, the Pavilion, the Old Harbour,

Nothe Gardens Nothe Gardens is a public garden, located in Weymouth, Dorset, England. Positioned on the Nothe Peninsula overlooking both Weymouth and Portland harbours, the informal gardens are often acclaimed to be the most beautiful the borough has to offer. ...

, the

Nothe Fort Nothe Fort is a fort in Weymouth, Dorset, England, situated at the end of the Nothe Peninsula, which juts eastwards from the town of Weymouth, and Weymouth Harbour, into the sea to the north of the ex-military Portland Harbour. The fort is l ...

, and

Portland Harbour Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, Dorset, on the south coast of England. Construction of the harbour began in 1849; when completed in 1872, its surface area made it the largest man-made harbour in the world, and rema ...

. It opened on 22 June 2012. The tower stood high. The clear-fronted passenger gondola could turn a full 360 degrees as it rose during operation, and accommodated 69 passengers at a time. Each tower session lasted approximately 15 minutes. A total of 1,100 tons of concrete was used during building; the tower itself weighed 140 tons. It offered views of the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

and the surrounding countryside; on a clear day, views at the highest point were said to extend down the Dorset coast to Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. The tower received national attention in September 2017 after the gondola became stuck and could not descend; 13 people were winched off by helicopter as the weather prevented other modes of safe rescue. In August 2019, the tower was announced to be permanently closed and was subsequently removed.

History

The tower, designed as a temporary tourist attraction, took eight months to build at a cost of £3.5 million. It was designed in Germany and built in Hungary and France, before being shipped in sections to be assembled on site. Work commenced in October 2011, when excavation of the 18-metre deep foundations started. The ground-level reception building was the last part of the tower to be built in June 2012, in time for the Olympic events. The idea of such a tower had been put forward in 2009-10. After a number of sites across Europe were considered, Weymouth was selected due to its far-reaching vistas and its closeness to the Sea Life Park. The tower had been funded by private money as one of the 90-strong worldwide attraction network operated by the Poole-based Merlin Entertainments, who also own the nearby Sea Life Park and the Pirate Adventure Golf at

Lodmoor Lodmoor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), RSPB reserve and country park in Dorset, England. The country park features a visitor centre, model railway and pitch and putt golf course. The SSSI has a wetland habitat with native birds ...

Country Park. Completed a week ahead of schedule, an early running of the tower was enjoyed by a host of VIP guests, including borough mayor Margaret Leicester, and local councillors and business community representatives. The tower's original five-year permission was extended in 2017 for a further five years. Thirteen people got stuck up the tower when it malfunctioned on 5 September 2017. They were winched to safety by a coastguard

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

. Following an investigation, the tower re-opened on 22 October. After its standard period of closure over the winter period, the tower failed to reopen at the beginning of the peak season in April 2019. Merlin Entertainments later announced on 2 August 2019 that the tower was permanently closed as a result of declining visitor numbers. It was sold to another company and dismantled.

References

External links

Jurassic Skyline website
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History

See also

References

External links