Darwen Tower Top - Part 1

Darwen Tower on Darwen Hill or Jubilee Tower on Beacon Hill to give it it's correct title was built to commemorate  Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and to celebrate the victory of local people for the right to access the moor.

Darwen Tower

It was built by two stonemasons Peter Brindle & Harry Flew, they walked from Brindle every day to work on the tower refusing to stay over in Darwen because they had to tend to their gardens back at home. You can not begin to imagine walking from Brindle to the summit of Darwen Moor to begin work often in cold, wet and windy conditions before walking back home again to do the gardening! 

It was opened on 24th Sept 1898 and had cost £773. 3s. 5d. it had taken two years and three months to complete.

A Brief History of Tops!

In the severe winter of 1947 the original wooden top blew off. By 1971 the tower was starting to show signs of wear & tear, topless, battered by the weather, abused by vandals  there was talk of bricking it up or even demolishing it. Thanks largely to the efforts of the Mayor Dr. Bill Lees and local funding in 1971 the tower was repaired and a new top was put in place.

However in a 70-80mph gale on the 21-Mar-2007 the weather vane blew off. A local engineering company W.E.C. who had originally made the weathervane offered to replace it. 

Scaffolding had to be erected in order to do this, as seen on this photograph taken by John Lenehan on 25-Jan-2008. 

Finally on the 11-Nov-2010 the entire top blew off in 80mph gale force winds and the council had to remove it.

Of course the local pro-photographer, in red, was there to record the occasion. 

Once the top was loaded on a trailer and secured the debris had to be collected which had become strewn around the tower.

The Morning After The Night Before!

Not all of the debris made it to the ground and needed assistance from the first floor...

and some from the very top.

Fortunately 'The Darwen Strongman' was on hand, who needs a crane?

and given an audience he couldn't resist the opportunity to demonstrate his physical prowess!

Once all the debris was cleared and loaded along with the broken top, the tractor commenced its descent from the tower.

and the initial descent is very steep.

Then down the moor past Darwen's other famous landmark the 'India Mill Chimney' with the paparazzi in hot pursuit!

To Be Continued.............

Darwen Tower Top - Part 2

From the 11-Nov-2010 until 13-Jan-2012 Darwen Tower stood proud and solid but without a top. Some thought it looked naked or at least topless and some thought it looked better without. In these times of austerity with government and council cutbacks it seemed unlikely that money would be found to fund a replacement top and it might have to be replaced by public subscription. Fortunately a local engineering company, WEC, came to the rescue and offered to replace the top free of charge, it offered them a unique training project for their apprentices. Coincidently, because the tower was built to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, it was in the year of Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee, the new top was finished and the day for its replacement arrived.

First of all the Engineers arrived and the Police cordoned off the area.....

Cameras were loaded, prepared and got ready for the 'action'....

Then the crowds started to gather.....

Helicopter and ground camera locations were double checked.....

Tension mounted as the time grew closer.....

Then the all-important, pre-delivery,installation flyby.....

Then finally with everybody in position.....

"Over the moor so bleak and barren" a distant thunder could be heard as the long awaited top appeared (with the local paparazzi in hot pursuit, the lengths some people will go to ) .....

Then slowly but surely the top was positioned.....

and with an incredible display of precision flying the top was lowered on to the tower.....

The entire operation, from the first photo with the helicopter coming over the moor carrying the top, to the one below  took exactly 7 minutes 48 seconds.

Excitement over, the crowds started to make their way back down off the moor

Final Inspection

Job well done!

Late one afternoon, a few days later, I went back to get a photo of the finished article and this was the result.

Inspiration (It's Grim Up North)

Sunday 18th Sept 2011

After a recent preview of the proofs for John Lenehan's http://www.johnlenehan.com/ up & coming photography exhibition at Sunnyhurst Woods in Darwen, and more recently a visit to see Matt Donnelly's http://mattdonnellyphotography.com/ current photographic exhibition also at Sunnyhurst Woods I was finally inspired to display some of my snaps!  So out with the camera and on with the boots and an evening walk up to Darwen Tower ensued.

After a very indifferent summer (i.e. WET) and on a day of sunshine & showers I drove out to Sunnyhurst Woods in Darwen and on the way had seen some stunning images of Darwen Tower & the Moors bathed in early evening sunshine against a backdrop of very black skies.

I set off walking from Lychgate up the track to Watermans Cottage, in this short space of time the sky had become overcast and grey and hopes of some nice evening or sunset photos faded, however I climbed on and up to the small reservoir, Sunnyhurst Hey, which I hadn't visited for years, because although I spend a lot of time running on the moors it is not on one of my regular running routes.

  

Sunnyhurst Hey Reservoir

From the reservoir I climbed up to the "Diagonal Path" and followed it to the the top where I was rewarded with a fine view of Blackburn.

Top of Diagonal Path

My original thoughts were to just go to the tower for some evening shots but the evening lighting wasn't as dramatic as I had hoped for and it was still a bit early so I walked on in the direction of Cartridge Hill and as the light dipped below the clouds I got some great shots:



Sunlight on Tockholes



Cartridge Hill with Winter Hill TV Mast in The Distance



Darwen Tower (Topless)

A quick look at the stormy skies over the tower, I much prefer it without the top, which blew off in a storm last year, and now I think it looks like a chess piece! much better.  Also notice the tree, over the last few years quite a few trees have become established on the eastern side of the moor, is this the start of re-forestation of our moor and how different it would look? (It wouldn't be a moor any more!)



Then over the moors towards Darwen, reminding me of the saying/poem (Beneath the 'ills so bleak and barren lies mucky scruffy little Darrun) or the version I prefer "O'er the moors so bleak & barren lies the pretty little town of Darren". The picture below tells which is the correct version.

Darwen "a pretty little town"

You can see the old landmarks i.e. India Mill Chimney, the Parish Church, the Town/Market Hall, the Library and the new i.e. The Academy. By now it was getting cold and I hadn't seen anybody since I set off an hour and a half ago, at these times the moor brings its own atmosphere and you feel the solitude despite the fact that below you are thousands of people, that you can't see, going about their business.

I took another photograph, this time of Blackburn from the Triangulation Point by the Tower. The clouds where low and dark but the sun kept finding gaps and illuminating the landscape giving great clarity to the scene.

Blackburn

Not only was it going cold but rain was in the air, sometimes it is in adverse conditions that the best shots are taken. Scrambling round the base of the tower I managed to capture some great silhouettes.



While I was concentrating on getting some good silhouette shots I looked behind to discover I was missing a rainbow over Darwen.

By now it was getting too cold for standing around even though I had just put on my hat, gloves and a jacket so I set off towards the top of the diagonal path again, drawn by the moody skies over Hoghton Tower.

Moody Skies Over HoghtonTower

After two hours of being on the moor was it time to descend the diagonal path and call it a day? but not being known as a man who knows when to call a day a day I took a last look around and what I saw had me turning back to Darwen Tower, a red glow from the setting sun had illuminated it beautifully so I ran back (the lighting can change very quickly in these conditions and sometimes you have to move quick) and I grabbed this shot of the tower. I think there are only two colours in this photograph, orange & grey.

Evening Sunlight On Darwen Tower

Back at the tower I was finally rewarded with the sunset I had wanted, and for which I had endured the cold and patiently waited for, for two & a half hours and I was happy.

It's grim up North!



Time for home and the quickest way down from the tower, especially if you jog because you are cold, is the steep track down to Lychgate, but the day wasn't done yet and I managed to get one last shot of the moody skies and the afterglow. What an encore.




Day's Done

Travelling home I was optimistic about my results but you never know till you get to see them on the computer, as my Dad used to say "if it were easy to get good photographs there would be no fun in it"

Hope you enjoyed looking at the photos as much as I had taking them.

Thanks for looking. Keith.