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Hoober Stand constructed in 1748 at a cost of £3000 is an unusual 98 foot tall triangular belvedere. Its location 518 feet above sea level was carefully chosen to ensure a fine view. Not only is this view from the top excellent, but the tower itself is a magnificent piece of work with each of the three corners having a lovely radius to them. This is despite the fact that there is a considerable taper to the tower for the whole of its height, so it was no mean feat for the architect and stonemason to have achieved this.

     Photo Submitted by, and Copyright of :- Richard Cutts of Bolton.

Battle of Culloden
The architect for this tower and another good triangular example in Somerset, Alfred's Tower     was Henry Flitcroft.
Hoober was built to celebrate the battle of Culloden where its builder, Thomas Watson, later to become 1st Marquess of Rockingham, found himself on Wednesday April 16th 1746. It was there that British troops, in what can only be described as a savage and inhumane manner, crushed a Jacobite uprising in a battle that lasted for only one hour, yet saw British troops roaming the countryside for days after, killing anyone who stood in their way.


The tower with the small amount of taper given to the sides, leaves you wondering whether it is actually a very slender pyramid. The top however marks it out as a tower, for it has an iron railed viewing platform. Access to this platform coming from a spiral staircase of 155 steps that wind their way up the interior, emerging under a central octagonal copula that originally housed a lantern. The windows that you see on the exterior providing the only light as you climb. The interior walls rise vertically for the first 15 feet, and from there on curve gently inwards, giving an odd sensation if you look up. The copula, because of the shape of the tower, actually appears off centre when viewed from a distance.






Visiting:-
The tower has had £100,000 recently spent on it to overcome the effects of mining subsidence in the area, and is once again open to the public. The cost of entry at time of writing in 2004 is £2.

And what about the unusual name you may be asking ?
Well a tower locally is known as a 'stand', and Hoober is the name of the local hamlet half a mile to the south east.

     Photo Submitted by, and Copyright of :- Richard Cutts of Bolton.

Richard who supplied the photographs has also produced small concrete models of various follies in and around his native Yorkshire which you can purchase.

Included among them is this folly.

Have a look at his website at   

Inscription
Inside and Top View
What can be seen from the top.

Co-Ords: 440750 398530 / SK 407985   

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