Barr Beacon on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Barr Beacon is a
Barr Beacon was formerly owned by the Scott family of Great Barr Hall, nearby. Following the death of Lady Mildred Scott in 1909, the estate was auctioned off in 1918. Birmingham's Lord Mayor made a plea for the site to be secured as a public park. Colonel J. H. Wilkinson of the Staffordshire Volunteer Infantry Brigade responded by purchasing it, then transferring it to a trust. It opened to the public on Easter Monday, 21 April 1919. In 1972, the trusteeship of Barr Beacon passed to Walsall Council. The council now manages Barr Beacon on behalf of the Barr Beacon Trust., with a management committee comprising local councillors and representatives of interest groups. During both 2002 and 2003 the site attracted an estimated 200,000 visitors.
Computer generated summit panorama
Hills of the West Midlands (county) Walsall
hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit.
Terminology
The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...
on the edge of Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
, West Midlands, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, very near the border with Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
. It gives its name to nearby Great Barr
Great Barr is now a large and loosely defined area to the north-west of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Staffordshire, and the parts now in Birmingham were once known as Perry Barr, which is still the name of an adjacent Bir ...
(the Beacon borders the Pheasey area of Great Barr) and to the local secondary school Barr Beacon School
Barr Beacon School, formerly Barr Beacon Language College, is a mixed secondary school in Walsall, England, which acquired Academy status in 2011, when it readopted the school's original name: Barr Beacon School. It takes this name from the adj ...
. It is historically the site of a beacon
A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...
where fires were lit in times of impending attack or on celebratory occasions. The site is on green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...
land and is of local importance for nature conservation, as defined by Walsall Borough Council, who have designated some 60 acres (25 ha) of it as a Local Nature Reserve.
Ownership and management
Barr Beacon was formerly owned by the Scott family of Great Barr Hall, nearby. Following the death of Lady Mildred Scott in 1909, the estate was auctioned off in 1918. Birmingham's Lord Mayor made a plea for the site to be secured as a public park. Colonel J. H. Wilkinson of the Staffordshire Volunteer Infantry Brigade responded by purchasing it, then transferring it to a trust. It opened to the public on Easter Monday, 21 April 1919. In 1972, the trusteeship of Barr Beacon passed to Walsall Council. The council now manages Barr Beacon on behalf of the Barr Beacon Trust., with a management committee comprising local councillors and representatives of interest groups. During both 2002 and 2003 the site attracted an estimated 200,000 visitors.
Views
As one of the highest points in the West Midlands county, Barr Beacon has panoramic views. According to the Walsall Council website, visible landmarks includeThe Wrekin
The Wrekin is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some five miles (8 km) west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of 4 ...
, Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase (), often referred to locally as The Chase, is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is managed by Forestry E ...
, the Lickey Hills
The Lickey Hills (known locally as simply ''The Lickeys'') are a range of hills in Worcestershire, England, to the south-west of the centre of Birmingham near the villages of Lickey, Cofton Hackett and Barnt Green. The hills are a popular countr ...
, Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medie ...
, Aldridge Airport, and Birmingham city centre, and at least eleven counties are visible, including Powys
Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain.
Geog ...
in Wales.
Memorial
On one summit isBarr Beacon Reservoir
Barr Beacon Reservoir is a covered, hill-top drinking water reservoir at Barr Beacon, Walsall, England, opened in 1899. It is operated by South Staffs Water.
One of the uses of the reservoir is to transfer water from the company's works at Hamp ...
, a South Staffordshire Waterworks Company covered drinking water
Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ...
reservoir with radio mast
Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...
s and on the other a war memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
consisting of a raised dais, covered by a copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...
-clad wooden dome supported by eight columns. On the night of 5 March 2010, thieves stole some of the copper roofing, damaging much more in the process; this happened again twice in 2011. In early 2013, the copper sheeting was replaced using green zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
-coated panels, and CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...
was installed.
See also
* Beacon WayReferences
External links
{{Commons category, Barr BeaconComputer generated summit panorama
Hills of the West Midlands (county) Walsall