Biography
Come with us on a day trip to Blackpool to see the Tower. There's an aquarium, a circus, ballroom dancing - and the view from the top is just amazing...
Blackpool Tower: the Basics
Standing proud and tall above the most famous stretch of seafront in England, the Blackpool Tower has been a symbol of fun and entertainment for more than a century. Designed as an English version of the Eiffel Tower, it is only five years younger than its Parisian cousin.
Towers in History
People have been building towers for thousands of years. These have served many functions, as watchtowers, fortifications, temples, lighthouses, victory monuments, clock towers, minarets and cathedral spires. A tower can be an expression of religious devotion (minarets and spires), of power (the Tower of London) or of national pride (the Eiffel Tower). The one aim that all tower-builders share is the desire to impress, to create a sense of wonder.
The Story of Blackpool and its Tower
The town that the Blackpool Tower rises above was once nothing more than a tiny farming and fishing community set on marshy land along the Fylde coast of Lancashire. What transformed its fortunes, from the mid-18th century, was the craze for sea-bathing. Blessed with miles of broad, sandy beaches, it proved a natural magnet for those whose idea of a good time was to rush to the coast at the weekend and plunge into a bracingly cold sea.
Towers since Blackpool
The early success of the Blackpool Tower looked set to lead to an outbreak of tower-building all over the country. Hardly had Blackpool’s opened for business than work got under way on a copycat tower at New Brighton on the Wirral, designed by the same architects (Maxwell and Tuke of Manchester), and also modelled on the Eiffel Tower. It opened in 1900 and was a Blackpool-beating 567ft.
