Sighting Tower
SIGHTING TOWER
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1391550
- Date first listed:
- 31-Mar-2006
- List Entry Name:
- Sighting Tower
- Statutory Address:
- SIGHTING TOWER
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1391550
- Date first listed:
- 31-Mar-2006
- List Entry Name:
- Sighting Tower
- Statutory Address 1:
- SIGHTING TOWER
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- SIGHTING TOWER
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- North Yorkshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Ilton-cum-Pott
- National Grid Reference:
- SE1591276997
Details
1159/0/10006
31-MAR-06
Ilton-cum-Pott
FAIRTHORNE
Sighting Tower
II
Survey tower. 1903. Built for the Harrogate Corporation. Hammer dressed stone laid to courses.
The tower is around 14m tall. Two buttressed piers, T shaped in cross section rise some 10m to support the upper portion of the tower. The piers have the heads of their T shapes opposed so that they form a slit 55cm wide and around 10m tall through the tower. The upper portion of the tower is approximately square in section clasped by buttresses rising from the piers.
Supplementary Information
The survey tower was one of three constructed to aid the alignment of the 3 mile long Carlesmoor Aqueduct tunnel. This was constructed to allow water to pass beneath Masham Moor from Roundhill reservoir to supply Harrogate. Permission for the scheme was granted in 1901, the tunnel was completed in 1908 and the scheme was operational in 1911. The other two towers were constructed at SE17407563, on the watershed near High Langwith Cross, and at SE 19487371 just beyond the tunnel portal at Carlesmoor.
Summary of Importance
Because survey towers become redundant once the associated engineering project is completed, they rarely survive nationally. Two separate examples have been listed previously, both chimney-like in design. The survey tower overlooking Roundhill Reservoir is identified as being of special interest as a rare form of structure with an unusually distinctive design.
Listing NGR: SE1591276997
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 494885
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 18-Jul-2026 at 14:13:07.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.