Coastguard'S Look Out Tower

Coastguard's Look Out Tower

A semaphore signal station built in 1814, with an early 20th-century telegraph house added to the roof. The tower was constructed for the Admiralty by Messrs. Hambledon, and the telegraph house was built by Arthur Carkeep.

The tower is circular in plan and stands four storeys high, constructed of coursed, shaped granite blocks. Each face features four four-pane sash windows with sills, and there is a gabled wooden porch. One ground-floor window opening is sealed in granite, probably marking a former door opening. To the right of this opening, a downpipe with hopper is attached below parapet level. The granite surrounds of the window openings show signs of disturbance, with some heads scored vertically to give the appearance of decorative flat arches. The upper floors are slightly set back from the projecting ground floor. String courses run beneath the parapet, which surrounds a flat roof. On this roof stands the early 20th-century timber telegraph house.

History

St Mary's has a long history of occupation, with prehistoric sites across the island and later Iron Age and Romano-British works. The tower, located on the highest part of St Mary's, is thought to occupy the former site of a Bronze Age standing stone, referenced in a survey by J. Troutbeck in 1794. Troutbeck's account also identified the ruins of a watch house on the site, and a lookout is marked on Christian Lilly's map of around 1715.

Following the breakdown of the Peace of Amiens in 1802, hostilities between Britain and France resumed. Prior to this, signal posts had been constructed along the English coast to alert naval squadrons and ports to the route of an invading French force. In 1804 it was agreed that a further signal post should be built on the Isles of Scilly in response to attacks on merchant ships by French privateers. A signal house was built on the island of St Martin's, and unlike mainland examples, which were constructed of timber and canvas, it was built of local granite to resist the effects of the exposed location.

In May 1812 Lieutenant General Vigoureux, military governor of the Isles of Scilly, requested a new signal tower station be built on Newford Down, St Mary's. The Admiralty agreed that the selected location would command a wide sweep of the horizon around the islands and allow signals to be passed easily to the batteries below Star Castle on the fortified Garrison peninsula. The position had already served as a lookout point. After a series of delays, the tower was erected by Messrs. Hambledon by 1814. The officer in charge, Lieutenant Trinder, appears to have been unhappy with his posting and complained constantly about the condition of the building, the quality of his staff, and the usefulness of the station. Further works were consequently carried out to the tower. However, in December 1816, after only two years in operation, it was closed down. The building reverted to the custody of the landowner, the Duke of Leeds.

In 1831 the site was taken over by the Coastguard as a subsidiary to the main station situated on the Garrison. In 1903 a wireless mast and receiving office were built nearby, and in 1908 a telegraph house was erected on the tower's roof by contractor Arthur Carkeep. The tower is shown on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1908 along with a group of other buildings marked Coastguard Station. The tower is shown as circular in plan, set within a triangular boundary, with an indistinct marking on the south-west corner. The Newford Down semaphore station became known as Telegraph Tower, and the wider site was developed into a modern radio transmitting and communications site by the late 20th century. The tower appears to stand empty as of 2010.