Towers....
13 Oct 2013 08:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
curiouswombatI put this post together for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
photo_scavenger, but then thought to share it here too.
This small building is known as The Tower of Refuge;
And here it is by day;
For a little of the history of both building and name
As you can see the tower stands on a small rock.
It is clearer in this one, that it is not very far from the town of Douglas - and that the rock is submeged when the tide is in.
Now imagine the rock without the tower, the tide as it is in that third picture, the weather as it is in the middle one - and no sheltering harbour wall.
Under those conditions, many boats and ships foundered on the Conister Rock over the years - and even though the people of Douglas could often hear their cries as the ship broke up and they were unable to get to the shore. Eventually Sir William Hilary (he of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution) who lived for some years in Douglas in a house very near where I took that third picture, decided that if a stone sheltering building stood on the rock, with the means to light a fire, and a stock of food and drinking water, in the upper room, then anyone who was shipwrecked there could wait out the storm until rescue came. He contributed most of the money himself, the rest was raised by public subscription, and in 1832 the Tower was complete.
It didn't really need to look like a small castle - but why not?
Of course, fewer ships ran aground on the rock once it was easier to see where it was - with it now having a small castle on it - but as you can see from this picture from the Wiki Commons of the sailing ship Progress, they still did at times.
I have no idea whether the crew/passengers of Progress needed to make use of the tower, or not.
And then I remembered that I'd actually taken another picture especially for the prompt earlier in the week when I was in Ramsey. And so, especially for Tolkien fans, I give you
Those two towers are actually not on the same structure - the one with the red stripe is on the southern stone pier - which you can see clearly, but the second is at the end of the northern equivalent, with the harbour entrance between them.
photo_scavenger, but then thought to share it here too.This small building is known as The Tower of Refuge;
And here it is by day;
For a little of the history of both building and name
As you can see the tower stands on a small rock.
It is clearer in this one, that it is not very far from the town of Douglas - and that the rock is submeged when the tide is in.
Now imagine the rock without the tower, the tide as it is in that third picture, the weather as it is in the middle one - and no sheltering harbour wall.
Under those conditions, many boats and ships foundered on the Conister Rock over the years - and even though the people of Douglas could often hear their cries as the ship broke up and they were unable to get to the shore. Eventually Sir William Hilary (he of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution) who lived for some years in Douglas in a house very near where I took that third picture, decided that if a stone sheltering building stood on the rock, with the means to light a fire, and a stock of food and drinking water, in the upper room, then anyone who was shipwrecked there could wait out the storm until rescue came. He contributed most of the money himself, the rest was raised by public subscription, and in 1832 the Tower was complete.
It didn't really need to look like a small castle - but why not?
Of course, fewer ships ran aground on the rock once it was easier to see where it was - with it now having a small castle on it - but as you can see from this picture from the Wiki Commons of the sailing ship Progress, they still did at times.
I have no idea whether the crew/passengers of Progress needed to make use of the tower, or not.
And then I remembered that I'd actually taken another picture especially for the prompt earlier in the week when I was in Ramsey. And so, especially for Tolkien fans, I give you
Those two towers are actually not on the same structure - the one with the red stripe is on the southern stone pier - which you can see clearly, but the second is at the end of the northern equivalent, with the harbour entrance between them.
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no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 07:53 pm (UTC)They should pay you something. Doncha think?
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 08:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 08:31 pm (UTC)And yes, you make a great advertisement for your island. ;)
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 08:53 pm (UTC)Maybe I should ask for commission!
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 09:10 pm (UTC)As you can see the causeway has been made permanent - but the castle is still, clearly, on its own small island.
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 09:21 pm (UTC)We need a comparative lineup of castles on rocks in bays. :)
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 10:06 pm (UTC)A line up should, most certainly, be done at some stage, though.
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 09:21 pm (UTC)You know that we WILL visit one day.
:)
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 10:10 pm (UTC)And you'd be welcome, of course.
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 09:37 pm (UTC)Thanks for that.
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 10:45 pm (UTC)There are two farms across the road from each other, each with a tall silo, that I call the Two Towers. I'd love to photograph them but unfortunately there's not a safe place to pull over for a quick snap.
no subject
Date: 13/10/2013 11:20 pm (UTC)It is so annoying, isn't it, when there is something you really want to photograph but there is simply no safe place from which to do so.
no subject
Date: 14/10/2013 04:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/10/2013 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/10/2013 06:09 pm (UTC)xx
no subject
Date: 14/10/2013 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/10/2013 10:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/10/2013 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 15/10/2013 05:22 am (UTC)The story about the building of the Tower of Refuge reminds me of a similar story about the islands in the Great Barrier Reef. The British Navy planted coconut trees and released goats on the larger ones, so that ship-wrecked sailors would have something to eat until they were rescued.
no subject
Date: 15/10/2013 07:35 am (UTC)