(Image: via Google Street View; Tynemouth Fire Control Tower behind Grand Parade)
Last week we featured a number of abandoned fire control towers (some of them now restored) on America’s eastern seaboard and others on the European side of the Atlantic. The images seen here, meanwhile, reveal the former fire control tower in Tynemouth, northern England.
The seven storey building is located behind Tynemouth’s Grand Parade and has now been converted into a private home.
One of numerous structures hastily constructed for the defence of Britain, the Tynemouth fire control tower “was built during World War Two to control the fire from Spanish Battery and Castle Battery and worked in coordination with the main Tyne fire command post at Castle Battery”, according to Subterranea Britannica.
The site adds: “The tower remained in use post war until the stand down of coastal artillery in 1956. The main fire command post within the Tynemouth Castle grounds was used by the coastguard until their new station was built in the 1990’s obliterating both the battery and the command post.”
The historic wartime building is accessed from Back Percy Gardens. In fact, you’ll find various Percys and Hotspurs amid the street names of Tynemouth; a reference to the Earls of Northumberland and, in particular, Sir Henry Percy (aka Harry Hotspur), who was slain at the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403) and immortalised by Shakespeare in Henry IV, Part 1.
The repurposed fire control tower also overlooks another relic of Tynemouth’s past: a forlorn outdoor swimming pool included in our round-up of the UK’s historic abandoned lidos and paddling pools.
The post The Old Tynemouth Fire Control Tower (Now a Private Home) appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.