Cabot Tower | |
---|---|
General information | |
Architectural style | Neo-Gothic |
Town or city | Bristol |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 51°27′14″N2°36′24″W / 51.4540°N 2.6068°W |
Construction started | June 1897 |
Completed | July 1898 |
Cost | £3250 |
Height | 105 feet (32 m) |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Red sandstone, Bath Stone |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | William Venn Gough |
Main contractor | Love & Waite |
Cabot Tower is a tower in Bristol, England, situated in a public park on Brandon Hill, between the city centre, Clifton and Hotwells. It is a grade II listed building. [1] [2]
The tower was built in the 1890s to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the journey of John Cabot from Bristol to land which later became Canada. Public access to the viewing platforms at the top of the tower was suspended from 2007 to 2011 for repairs.
The site of the tower was occupied in the Middle Ages by a chapel which may have belonged to St James' Priory. During the 16th century the chapel was replaced by a windmill. [3]
The tower was constructed in memory of John Cabot, 400 years after he set sail in Matthew from Bristol and landed in what was later to become Canada. It was paid for by public subscription. The foundation stone was laid on 24 June 1897 by the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava and the tower was completed in July 1898. [4] The architect was William Venn Gough and it was built by Love and Waite [5] of Bristol. A lift was originally planned but never installed. [6]
The tower gives its name to the area and Council ward of Cabot.
After closure to the public in 2006, the tower reopened on 16 August 2011 following completion of repair works costing an estimated £420,000 to cracked stonework caused by corroded reinforcing steel, which had made the tower unsafe. [7] [8] [9]
The final stage of the restoration was completed in 2014 with the reinstatement of a light flashing "Cabot Tower, Brandon Hill, Bristol" in Morse code, which had been turned off in 2001 after developing a technical problem. [10]
The tower is 105 feet (32 m) high and built from red sandstone with cream Bath Stone for ornamentation and emphasis. It consists of a spiral staircase and two viewing platforms where balconies with wrought iron railings overlook the city, the higher of which is approximately 334 feet (102 m) above sea level. The tower is supported by diagonal buttresses and its top by flying buttresses; it is surmounted by an octagonal spirelet topped with a ball finial and a carved winged figure representing commerce. [2] [6]
On three sides of the base of the tower are commemorative plaques. They read as follows:
The foundation stone of this tower was laid by the Marquess of Dufferin & Ava on the 24 June 1897, And the completed tower was opened by the same nobleman on the 6 September 1898.
W.Howell Davies, Chairman of the executive committee
E.G.Clarke, J.W.Arrowsmith Hon. SecretariesThis tablet is placed here by the Bristol branch of the Peace Society in the earnest hope that peace and friendship may ever continue between the kindred peoples of this country and America
'Glory to God in the highest and on Earth, peace, good will towards men' Luke 2.14
This tower was erected by public subscription in the 61st year of the reign of Queen Victoria to commemorate the fourth centenary of the discovery of the continent of North America, on June 24, 1497, by John Cabot.
Who sailed from this port in the Bristol ship Matthew, with a Bristol crew, under letters patent granted by King Henry VII to that navigator and his sons Lewis, Sebastian and Sanctus
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, widely known as St Mary Redcliffe, is the main Church of England parish church for the Redcliffe district of the city of Bristol, England. The first reference to a church on the site appears in 1158, with the present building dating from 1185 to 1872. The church is considered one of the country's finest and largest parish churches as well as an outstanding example of English Gothic architecture. The church is so large it is sometimes mistaken for Bristol Cathedral by tourists. The building has Grade I listed status, the highest possible category, by Historic England.
Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava,, was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society. In his youth he was a popular figure in the court of Queen Victoria, and became well known to the public after publishing a best-selling account of his travels in the North Atlantic.
Bristol Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bristol. The cathedral was originally an abbey dedicated to St Augustine, founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148. It became the cathedral of the new diocese of Bristol in 1542, after the after the dissolution of the monasteries. It is a Grade I listed building.
The Society of Merchant Venturers is a charitable organisation in the English city of Bristol.
Signal Hill is a hill which overlooks the harbour and city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The majority of Signal Hill, including Cabot Tower, is designated a National Historic Site. The highest point, Ladies' Lookout, is 167 m (548 ft) high.
Sir Sandford Fleming Park is a 95-acre (38 ha) Canadian urban park located in the community of Jollimore in Halifax Regional Municipality. It is also known as Dingle Park, named after the town of Dingle in southwestern Ireland. The park was donated to the people of Halifax by Sir Sandford Fleming. The centrepiece of the park is an impressive tower that commemorates Nova Scotia's achievement of representative government in 1758. Constructed between 1908 and 1912, the Memorial Tower was erected during the same period of building other commemorative towers in the British Commonwealth, notably Cabot Tower in Bristol, England (1898) and Cabot Tower in St. John's (1900).
Matthew was a caravel sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to Newfoundland, North America. There are two modern replicas – one in Bristol, England and one in Bonavista, Newfoundland.
Cabot Tower is a tower in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, situated on Signal Hill. Construction of the tower began in 1898 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's landing in Newfoundland, and Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
John Webb’s or Lowe’s Mill is a Grade II* listed tower mill at Thaxted, Essex, England, which had been restored to working order, but is currently out of action following the loss of a sail in April 2010.
Cabot was a council ward that covered the centre of Bristol, England. It took its name from the Cabot Tower, a memorial tower on Brandon Hill that was built to commemorate John Cabot's voyage and "discovery" of North America. The ward was abolished in 2016.
The English city of Bristol has a number of parks and public open spaces.
Hariot Georgina Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, was a British peeress, known for her success in the role of "diplomatic wife," and for leading an initiative to improve medical care for women in British India.
Chesterton Windmill is a 17th-century cylindric stone tower windmill with an arched base, located outside the village of Chesterton, Warwickshire. It is a Grade I listed building and a striking landmark in south-east Warwickshire.
Brandon Hill, also known as St Brandon's Hill, is a hill close to Bristol city centre, between the districts of Clifton and Hotwells, in south west England.
The Anglican St Andrew's Church is on the outskirts of Chew Stoke, within the English county of Somerset. The church, parts of which date from the 15th century, is a Grade II* listed building.
John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII, King of England is the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments declared Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland as representing Cabot's first landing site. However, alternative locations have also been proposed.
Helen's Tower is a 19th-century folly and lookout tower in Conlig, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was built by the 5th Lord Dufferin and Clandeboye and named for his mother, Helen. He intended it as a shrine for poems, first of all a poem by his mother and then other poems that he solicited from famous poets over the years. Tennyson's Helen's Tower is the best known of them. The tower is a fine example of Scottish Baronial architecture. Helen's Tower inspired the design of the Ulster Tower, a war memorial at Thiepval, France.
The London Troops War Memorial, located in front of the Royal Exchange in the City of London, commemorates the men of London who fought in World War I and World War II.
Lucy de Newchurch was an anchoress from the diocese of Hereford who lived in a chapel dedicated to St. Brendan on Brandon Hill in Bristol and who later became of interest to antiquarians, historians of Bristol, and writers of Bristol guide books. She was the first known of four hermits who lived on Brandon Hill at various times between 1314 and 1480.
The Jubilee Clock Tower, striking clock, and drinking fountain, is a Grade II listed building in the village of Churchill, North Somerset, built to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. It stands on a plot between Dinghurst Road and Front Street, and is a prominent landmark at the entrance to the village. Designed by Joseph Foster Wood of Foster & Wood, Bristol, the tower is made of local stone and is of perpendicular Gothic style.
Media related to Cabot Tower, Bristol at Wikimedia Commons