Jubilee Tower

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Snapshot of Darwen 'Jubilee' Tower

The octagonal Jubilee Tower at grid reference SD678215 on Beacon Hill overlooking the town of Darwen was completed in 1898 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and also to celebrate the victory of the local people for the right to access the moor. It was opened to the public on September 22, 1898.

85 feet (25.9 m) in height, walkers can climb to the top via the internal staircase to admire the views of North Yorkshire, Morecambe Bay, Blackpool Tower, Cumbria, the Isle of Man, North Wales, Derbyshire elsewhere in Lancashire, and surrounding moorland.

There is a stone spiral staircase to the first level and slightly above, followed by a smaller metal spiral staircase which leads to the very top. Wind speeds can be very high at the top of the tower, and often mist below will obscure the surrounding views. In 1947 the original wooden turret built by a crew including apprentice Ernest Brooks of Darwen (who later built the Lytch Gate at Sunnyhurst Wood)on top of the tower was blown off in a gale and was not replaced until 1971 when the tower was crowned once again with a glass dome paid for mainly by fund raising by local people. The tower was closed to the public for 19 months due to being deemed unsafe for use.

[edit] Refurbishment

The tower was closed to the public in October 2000 due to investigations that the tower was unsafe to the public, it was also noted in a spring 2001 survey that the structure had severe decay in the stone decking. The refurbishment was supposed to take 2-3 months to complete but many delays like the foot and mouth crisis which was present at the time kept cropping up. The tower was finally re-opened on April 9, 2002.