Hoad Monument
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Hoad Monument is a 100 ft (30.5 m) tower at the top of Hoad Hill (436 ft/133 m), to the north-east of Ulverston in the Furness area of north-west England. Paid for by public subscription at a cost of £1250, the monument was erected in 1850. It commemorates Sir John Barrow who was born in Ulverston. Sir John was a founder member of the Royal Geographic Society, and held various government posts in the 19th century becoming the Second Secretary to the Admiralty.
The monument was designed as a replica of the Third Eddystone Lighthouse (Smeaton's Tower). It is built of limestone quarried locally at Birkrigg Common. Due to its elevated and exposed position, it is one of the most prominent landmarks in England. The hollow tower can be ascended via a spiral stone staircase of 112 steps. At the top, eight apertures provide a magnificent 360-degree panorama of the Furness Peninsula, Morecambe Bay and the southern Lake District. In recent times the formerly open apertures have been glazed.
Sometimes known as the "John Barrow Monument", or simply as "Hoad", the tower is also occasionally referred to as "the pepper pot". This epithet was famously used by Lord Haw-Haw during one of his propaganda broadcasts of World War II when he warned the residents of Ulverston that the German Air Force would bomb their pepper pot.
Hoad Monument is normally open during the summer months when a flag is flying outside the monument. It is however currently undergoing restoration with the Friends of the Sir John Barrow Monument collecting grants and donations for this task. Ulverston Towns Lands Trust owns both the monument and Hoad Hill.
[edit] References
- A Story of the Growth of Ulverston, by Dorothy Ashburner. Published 1993 (No ISBN available).
