Coastguard’s Lookout Tower, now known as Telegraph Tower, is a
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
structure built around 1814-16 on
St Mary's, Isles of Scilly as a
Signal station for the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
* Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
* Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
*Admiralty, Tr ...
.
In May 1812 the military governor of the Isles of Scilly, Lieutenant General Vigoureux, requested a new signal tower station on Newford Down, St Mary’s to allow signals to be passed from the mainland in Cornwall to the batteries below
Star Castle
''Star Castle'' is a vector graphics
Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associat ...
. The Admiralty agreed and adverts for its construction were placed in October 1813.
After a series of delays, the tower was erected by Messrs. Hambledon. The date of construction is quoted as 1814, but it was reported in the ''Hampshire Chronicle'' on 8 January 1816 that had been erected on Newford Down, Scilly, and Lieutenant John Trinder RN was appointed to superintend it.
However, the tower appears to have been unsuccessful and in December 1816, it was closed down by the Admiralty and the building reverted to the custody of the land owner,
George Osborne, 6th Duke of Leeds.
In 1831 the site was taken over by
HM Coastguard as a subsidiary to the
main station situated on the Garrison.
In 1903 a wireless mast and receiving office were built nearby, The Newford Down semaphore station became known as Telegraph Tower, and the area around it is now known as
Telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
. The Lloyd’s Mercantile Marine Signal Station in the garrison was closed and the work of signalling passing ships was carried out by the coastguards at Telegraph Tower.
In 1908 a telegraph house was erected on the tower's roof by the contractor, Arthur Carkeep.
Today, most of the tower is a residential property owned by the
Duchy of Cornwall
The Duchy of Cornwall ( kw, Duketh Kernow) is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch obtains possession of the duchy and the title of 'Duke of Cornwall' at ...
.
References
{{Reflist
Buildings and structures in the Isles of Scilly
Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall
St Mary's, Isles of Scilly