Description

1159/0/10006
31-MAR-06

Ilton-cum-Pott
FAIRTHORNE
Sighting Tower

II

Survey tower. 1903. Built for the Harrogate Corporation. Hammer dressed stone laid to courses.

The tower is around 14m tall. Two buttressed piers, T shaped in cross section rise some 10m to support the upper portion of the tower. The piers have the heads of their T shapes opposed so that they form a slit 55cm wide and around 10m tall through the tower. The upper portion of the tower is approximately square in section clasped by buttresses rising from the piers.

Supplementary Information

The survey tower was one of three constructed to aid the alignment of the 3 mile long Carlesmoor Aqueduct tunnel. This was constructed to allow water to pass beneath Masham Moor from Roundhill reservoir to supply Harrogate. Permission for the scheme was granted in 1901, the tunnel was completed in 1908 and the scheme was operational in 1911. The other two towers were constructed at SE17407563, on the watershed near High Langwith Cross, and at SE 19487371 just beyond the tunnel portal at Carlesmoor.

Summary of Importance

Because survey towers become redundant once the associated engineering project is completed, they rarely survive nationally. Two separate examples have been listed previously, both chimney-like in design. The survey tower overlooking Roundhill Reservoir is identified as being of special interest as a rare form of structure with an unusually distinctive design.

Listing NGR: SE1591276997

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26670906

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)