Description

1358/3/84 THE GARRISON
14-DEC-1992 HUGH TOWN
Garrison Tower

(Formerly listed as:
THE GARRISON
HUGH TOWN
Signal Gun Tower)

II
A C17 windmill, converted to a lookout tower after 1831.

The tower is built of roughly coursed granite, is circular on plan and stands three storeys high. The building is approximately four metres in diameter and twelve metres tall. There are granite lintels over the doorways and windows. The ground-floor doorway is accessed via stone steps, attached to which are a metal balustrade and a low, square, rubble stone structure. The seven windows on the second floor denote the position of the C19 observation room, from which a doorway leads onto a metal balcony. Slit openings at the lower level are probably later insertions. The tower is topped by a stone parapet with a single embrasure. A flagstaff is fixed to one side of the embrasure. A downpipe, with hopper, is fixed to one side of the tower, and cuts through the parapet band.

History: The windmill was probably erected in the early-C17. By 1750 the windmill, together with its partner, which was subsequently destroyed, had been abandoned and ruinous. After 1831 the tower was occupied for a short time by the Coastguard, and in about 1869 it was acquired by Shipping Gazette as a lookout for reporting shipping movements. In 1871 Lloyds of London took over the building, eventually purchasing it in 1882. The building is now used as holiday accommodation.

Sources:
Goodwin, J. Granite towers on St, Mary's, Isles of Scilly, Cornish Archaeology, No.32, 1993, 128-139
Woodley, Rev. G. A View of the Present State of the Scilly Islands, 1822, 225.

Cornwall County Council/ English Heritage, Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment for The Isles of Scilly, 2004, p109:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/isles-of-scilly-rczas/islesofscilly20080116095450.pdf
[accessed 25/11/10]

Cornwall and Scilly HER records (http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCO31568&resourceID=1020):

7901.05: HUGH TOWN - Medieval windmill
7901.06: WINDMILL - Medieval windmill
[Accessed on 26/11/10]

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
Garrison Tower, The Garrison, St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly, a former C17 windmill, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural: An interesting example of a pre-1700 windmill, converted to a signal station in the C19.
* Historical: A distinctive early windmill tower, and a surviving example of an adapted structure used in the highly-competitive shipping industry of the C19.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Garrison Tower at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26614161

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey