Booker's Tower | |
---|---|
Type | Tower |
Location | The Mount, Guildford |
Coordinates | 51°13′48″N0°34′52″W / 51.230°N 0.581°W |
OS grid reference | SU 99141 48839 |
Area | Surrey |
Built | 1839 |
Architectural style(s) | Gothic |
Owner | Guildford Borough Council |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Bookers Tower Guildford |
Designated | 15 March 1988 |
Reference no. | 1188100 |
Bookers Tower (also Booker's Tower) is a Grade II-listed four-storey octagonal tower built in the 19th century, in the Gothic style. [1] It is in Guildford, Surrey, to the west of the town centre on Beech Lane. It is adjacent to the Mount Cemetery, the resting place of Lewis Carroll. [2] [3]
Built on high ground to the west of Guildford town centre, it was commissioned by the then Mayor of Guildford, Charles Booker in memory of his sons, Charles and Henry, who had both died at the age of 15. The structure was completed in 1839 and was constructed by a local builder, John Mason, in Bargate stone with ashlar and brick dressings. [1] [4]
At the opening celebration in 1840, the tower was dedicated to mark the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. The ceremony involved the ringing of bells and the lighting of cannons and fireworks. Booker subsequently entertained friends at the tower and invited guests to view the construction of the railway lines to Woking and Guildford from the top. [4]
In later years Bookers Tower was used by the Victorian scientist and Guildford resident, John Rand Capron, to observe astronomical phenomena. [5] He is also thought to have conducted experiments involving lightning at the site. [2]
Guildford Borough Council considered demolishing the tower in 1927, [6] but repairs were carried out in 1928, supervised by the Borough Surveyor, J. W. Hipwood. [7] During the Second World War, it was used as an air raid observation post. Two further restoration projects were carried out in 1984 and 2014. The tower is not open to the public. [2]
Guildford is a town in west Surrey, England, around 27 mi (43 km) south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around 143,929 inhabitants in mid-2019 est. The name "Guildford" is thought to derive from a crossing of the River Wey, a tributary of the River Thames that flows through the town centre.
Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around 30 miles (49 km) southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers 3.74 sq mi (9.7 km2) and includes the settlements of Farncombe, Binscombe and Aaron's Hill. Much of the area lies on the strata of the Lower Greensand Group and Bargate stone was quarried locally until the Second World War.
Reigate is a town in Surrey, England, around 19 miles (30 km) south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as Cherchefelle and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for human activity is from the Paleolithic and Neolithic, and during the Roman period, tile-making took place to the north east of the modern centre.
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Compton is a village and civil parish in the Guildford district of Surrey, England. It is between Godalming and Guildford. It has a medieval church and a close connection to fine art and pottery, being the later life home of artist George Frederic Watts. The parish has considerable woodland and agricultural land, and the undeveloped portions are in the Metropolitan Green Belt. The village is traversed by the North Downs Way and has a large western conservation area. Central to the village are the Watts Gallery, the cemetery chapel commissioned by his wife for him, two inns and the parish church.
Chilworth is a village in the Guildford borough of Surrey, England. It is located in the Tillingbourne valley, southeast of Guildford.
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Shirley Windmill is a Grade II listed tower mill in Shirley, in the London Borough of Croydon, England which has been restored to working order.
West Surrey was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Surrey, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.
Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican church in the centre of Guildford, England. A large, red brick building, it was built in the early 1760s on the site of a mediaeval church which collapsed in the mid-18th century. It is the only large Georgian church in Surrey, sporting detailed frescos of the Crucifixion surrounded by the Saints and the Ascended Lord in Heaven, as well as one of the largest unsupported ceilings in southern England. It is a Grade I listed building.
Guildford Lido is a public, open-air swimming pool in Guildford, Surrey, England. In Stoke Park, to the north of the town centre, it is surrounded by 1.8 ha of landscaped grounds. The lido attracts around 90,000 visits each year. It is owned by Guildford Borough Council and has been run by Freedom Leisure since 2011.
Woking is a town and borough in northwest Surrey, England, around 23 mi (36 km) from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as Wochinges, and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the Paleolithic, but the low fertility of the sandy local soils meant that the area was the least populated part of the county in 1086. Between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, new transport links were constructed, including the Wey Navigation, Basingstoke Canal and London to Southampton railway line. The modern town was established in the mid-1860s, as the London Necropolis Company began to sell surplus land surrounding the railway station for development.
John Rand Capron (1829–1888) FRAS was an English amateur scientist, astronomer and photographer. Though a solicitor by profession, he became an expert on spectroscopy, particularly in relation to the aurora, and published many articles during his lifetime.
Godalming Friends Meeting House is a Friends meeting house in the ancient town of Godalming in the English county of Surrey. One of many Nonconformist places of worship in the town, it dates from 1748 but houses a congregation whose roots go back nearly a century earlier. Decline set in during the 19th century and the meeting house passed out of Quaker use for nearly 60 years, but in 1926 the cause was reactivated and since then an unbroken history of Quaker worship has been maintained. Many improvements were carried out in the 20th century to the simple brick-built meeting house, which is Grade II-listed in view of its architectural and historical importance.
St Mary's Church is an Anglican church in Guildford in Surrey, England; the church's Anglo-Saxon tower is the oldest surviving structure in the town. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the author Lewis Carroll, preached here and his funeral was held in the church in 1898. Coming under the Diocese of Guildford, the church has been Grade I listed since 1953.