Lookout Look Up

In the course of my daily work of Surveying houses I come across some very individual and quirky places. 

That was the case just a couple of days ago in a small seaside town on the North Sea Coast in East Yorkshire. 

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that even after some 30 years of driving down that particular street I have failed to notice the rather strangely styled structure atop a pair of properties. It is a timber clad lookout tower. 

This photograph, although rather grainy with age shows the tower- see upper mid left.

The two houses well predate any other residences on the street and indeed are somewhat grander in style and in the use of materials than their neighbours. 

Under the name Eton House the three storey houses are likely to have been built for a single family occupation covering multiple generations or even with the original intention of the builder to sell off one of them for a profit and keeping the best for their own occupation. 

The Title Deed indicates a sale of the land followed by construction around 1882. 

Given the quality of the brick and the glazed clay embellishments at the eaves (corbelling) and above the windows and front door there was no expense spared within the commission. This is indicative of local wealth and influence of the intended occupiers. The lookout tower may have been part of the original build and with its unrestricted views to the sea could be associated with the owner of a seagoing vessel such as a fishing boat or inshore cargo carrier. 

The seaside town itself does not have a harbour and the Pleasure Pier was never reinstated after a storm stricken ship collided with and severed the otherwise illustrious and well patronised attraction. 

This would mean a mooring of a larger vessel out at sea and the need for an owner or operator to keep a regular vigil. 

What better than your own high level observation point? 

The tower, today, remains in good condition although as the pair of properties have come into separate and unrelated ownership so there has been a compulsion to sub divide it and rather than a large panoramic outlook there are now two 180 degree aspects. 

The maintenance of the old timber frame will form a liability on respective owners but because of the local historic significance this has been carried out sympathetically and diligently by successive owners. 

The side relevant to my Survey is internally ship lap boarded and retains small leaded and stained glass  windows. It was perfectly dry and well preserved. 

As for access, this was from the attic level of the house with a steeply angled ladder and a liftable trap hatch very much akin to that between decks on a ship. 

Speaking to the current owner she told a story, told in turn by someone else to her about a fatal suicide from the lookout tower way back in the history of the house. 

It was recounted that the reason for the suicide had been the death by drowning in the backyard well by a young child and with the grief and guilt ridden parent taking their own life. 

This story really caught my imagination and I felt compelled to research it further. 

In the depths of the British Newspaper Archive I found the following story which broadly fitted the date and background story. 

This is from the Eastern Counties Press Newspaper in 1897. 

If you can make out the text it appears to give a happy ending to the much told local story