Lantern Tower

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Lantern Tower

The Lantern Tower , also North Queensferry Lighthouse , is a beacon in the Scottish town of North Queensferry in the Council Area Fife . In 1979 the building was included as an individual monument in the Scottish monument lists in the highest monument category A. Furthermore, together with the Signal House Pier , the Battery Pier and the Signalhaus, it forms a category A monument ensemble.

history

At least since the Middle Ages , North Queensferry was the location of a ferry dock over the Firth of Forth , from which the place name and that of the opposite South Queensferry are derived. In 1809 the Forth Ferry Trustee Company was formed . The owners of the ferry terminal were obliged to sell the ferry rights by parliamentary resolution the following year. As a result, they received a compensation payment of £ 10,000. The docks on both banks of the inlet were in poor condition at the time. For this reason, the Scottish engineer John Rennie was entrusted with the revision and expansion of the facilities. In this context, the Lantern Tower was built between 1810 and 1812 as a signal tower for the jetty. Thomas Telford redesigned the facility in 1828. With the opening of the Forth Road Bridge in 1964, ferry operations in North Queensferry ceased and the Lantern Tower became obsolete.

description

The Lantern Tower stands at the foot of Signal House Pier. The five meter high sandstone tower has a hexagonal floor plan with an edge length of 1.22 m, which rests on a 35 cm high, rounded plinth . Its wooden entrance door is embedded in a round-arched recess. Two unadorned cornices subdivide the façades, which are terminated with a cornice , horizontally. On top of it sits an octagonal lantern with a copper dome at the end. The seated cross consists of tubes that are used for ventilation. Inside there is a short spiral staircase .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  3. ↑ Entry on Lantern Tower  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)

Web links

Commons : Lantern Tower  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 56 ° 0 ′ 29.8 "  N , 3 ° 23 ′ 41.2"  W.