Hoober Stand
Hoober Stand is a 30-metre (98 ft) high building situated on a ridge in Wentworth, South Yorkshire in northern England. It was designed by Henry Flitcroft for the Whig aristocrat Thomas Watson-Wentworth, Earl of Malton (later the 1st Marquess of Rockingham) to commemorate the quashing of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, and lies close to his country seat Wentworth Woodhouse. It is approximately 157m above sea level, and from the top there are magnificent, long distance views on a clear day. It is open to the public 2–5 p.m. on Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from the Spring bank holiday weekend until the last Sunday in September. Hoober Stand is one of several follies in and around Wentworth Woodhouse park. The others include Needle's Eye and Keppels Column.
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[edit] History
Thomas Watson-Wentworth (the Earl of Malton and Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire) fought for the British Government against the 1745 Jacobite rising. When the rebellion was crushed, King George II elevated the Earl to the 1st Marquess of Rockingham (the title Earl of Malton passed to his only surviving son). Watson-Wentworth commissioned architect Henry Flitcroft to design a commemorative monument.
Construction lasted from 1746 to 1748, and cost £3,000. The inscription above the doorway reads:
"This pyramidall building was erected by his Majestys most dutiful subject Thomas Marquess of Rockingham in grateful respect to the preserver of our religious laws and libertys King George the Second who, by the blessing of God having subdued a most unnatural rebellion in Britain anno 1746 maintains the balance of power and settles a just and honourable peace in Europe 1748."
[edit] Location
Hoober Stand is situated on a high ridge some 157 metres (515 ft) above sea level in a rural area of Rotherham, England, and is less than a mile from the village of Wentworth. Vehicular access is along Lea Brook Lane, north of the stand, to a car park next to the monument.
[edit] Structure
The base is an equilateral triangle in section. The three walls are perpendicular to the ground for 4.5 metres (15 ft) then taper inwards to a hexagonal cupola surrounded by a triangular viewing platform reached by an internal stairway. It is believed that the three walls under the cupola represented England (including Wales), Scotland and Ireland all under one crown. The outside of the building has hardly any ornamentation ; the inside is more decorative.
The stairway is lit by five stairway windows and two cupola windows, and (when the doors are open) by the top and bottom doorways.
[edit] Walls
The wall with the entrance door faces south. The solid wooden door has an inscription above the archway (details above). The brickwork on this wall has been extensively repaired in recent years, as shown in the photograph. This wall has the second and fifth stairway windows (when ascending).
On the north west wall the vast majority of the brickwork is original. This wall is usually in shadow because the nearby woodland blocks the evening sun. This wall has the third stairway window, exactly halfway up the stairway. The stand's lightning conductor runs down this wall.
The north east wall has the first and fourth stairway windows.
[edit] Cupola
At the top of the stand is the hexagonal cupola with a domed roof. It is surrounded by a triangular iron-railed viewing platform. Three of the cupola walls (the ones containing the cupola's door and windows) are parallel to the tower walls.
The north west and north east cupola walls have windows which light the top of the stairway, so the stand keeper isn't plunged into darkness when he shuts the cupola door at the end of the day. The door (in the southern wall of the cupola) leads out onto the viewing platform. The remaining three cupola walls are windowless and face north, south east and south west.
[edit] Viewing Platform
The cupola door leads from the top of the stairway out through the south wall of the cupola onto the viewing platform. The platform is in the form of an equilateral triangle, with edges parallel to the south cupola wall and the windowed (north west and north east) cupola walls. The platform edges are also parallel to the tower walls. The platform corners are adjacent to the cupola's three windowless (north, south east and south west) walls. Each corner has a decorative stone hexagonal-topped pedestal, useful for leaning on when using binoculars.
[edit] Optical Illusion
The inward taper of the upper part of the three walls causes an optical illusion that the stand is falling over. The cupola, although situated over the centre of the building, appears to moves from side to side as the tower is approached from different angles.
[edit] External links
- Wentworth Village — Hoober Stand
- The Wentworth Follies: Hoober Stand — The Southern Door
- Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society website
Coordinates: 53°28′54.9″N 1°23′15.3″W / 53.481917°N 1.387583°W
