Northampton Lighthouse
Wednesday, 17th August 2005 by James Turnbull
The 'Northampton Lighthouse' is not really a lighthouse and being 70 miles from the coast wouldn't do a very good job if it was. Built in 1980 and opened by the Queen in '82, the 127m tower houses lift shafts designed to test lifts travelling at speeds of up to 7 metres a second.
The tower has been unused since 1997 and although a listed building is facing an uncertain future. (Wikipedia Page)
Thanks: Jonathan Rawle.
There is one such tower that I know of in the United States, at the Otis facility in Bristol, Connecticut. It was built in the 1980’s and is still in operation. I don’t believe it’s quite as tall as the Northampton structure.
Unfortunately, as with almost all of Connecticut, only low-res pictures of the area are available, and I simply couldn’t locate the structure.
Here in Britain, I heard once that if you call the Otis company they answer the phone “Hello, Otis, Reading” 😀
The tower is now surrounded by a new housing development, very close to the also newly redeveloped Northmpton Saints rugby football ground. The base of the tower is surrounded by a circle of grass contained within a circle of cobble stones. I think its future must be assured, therefore, as it would cause great problems to demolish it so close to all the new housing.