where am i? a test ...... hehe

[Invicta Moto]

My feckin dog loves the deposits that those bloody cows leave. One sniff and she's over the other side of the field rolling and rolling in the bloody stuff.

Anyone know how to stop a long haired and difficult-to-shampoo dog rolling in cowpats (apart from shooting the bloody thing)?

Mike

Teach him/her to eat them on the run. I had a border collie that ran at the pat and flipped it over like a burger and got the wet brown stuff and missed the crust..... b*stard.

 

[Fanum]

Didn't know that one was a semaphore tower...there's one near Wisley, but never heard that the one on Leith Hill was. Thought it was just a folly.

OOer.....looks like you're dead right....

The Semaphore Chain

In 1795 the navy decided to construct an optical telegraph system using a chain of signaling stations to enable the Admiralty in Whitehall to communicate with the naval base at Portsmouth on the south coast. At first a shutter technique devised by Sir George Murray was used but in 1822 the link was upgraded by Captain Sir Home Riggs Popham who chose semaphore instead.

Messages could be sent over the 108km path in about 15 minutes. The information superhighway of its age was in operation until about 1847 when the electric telegraph superseded it. The only surviving station now open to the public is at Chatley Heath in Surrey.

There were 15 nodes:

1. Admiralty
2. Chelsea
3. Putney Heath
4. Coombe Warren
5. Esher
6. Chatley Heath
7. Guildford
8. Witley
9. Haslemere
10. Woolbeding
11. Marden
12. Compton
13. Portsdown Hill
14. Eastney
15. Portsmouth High St.

So I was wildy wrong about the timing as well...15 mins from London to the docks ain't half bad!!!!

Odd..I was sure Leith hill was one....ah well.

There was also another chain going from London to Deal, and another across the MArtello tower network.

They had the whole place pretty well stitched up!!

I believe RCC54 was an apprentice on one of them..might be worth asking him

 

[Joyseeker]

i am utterly amazed you found this out so quick fanum..... and to this detail.

There were 15 nodes:

nodes 5 Chatley Heath and 6 Esher puzzle me. i am aware of a semaphore tower in pains hill park, cobham side of the m25, and one on the otherside of the same motorway..... both visible from the a3 and both less then a mile apart....... in the woods.

one must have been moved...... i'll go take a look see..... its been 10 years but i've been up both.

 

[Dahoum]

This is the Esher one - between Esher and Chessington

OS Ref TQ157647

 

[unhinged]

Wowser, almost at the end of my road and I've never seen it!

 

[Joyseeker]

guildford semaphore

this one was a bugger to find. it was not on the obvious high ground. eventually had to pop into the local tourist office who gave me the info with the warning..... "its private property now!"

its on the corner of pewley hill and semaphore road. and i gather only grade 2 listed.

buzzed the buzzer and confirmed that to the best of the owner's knowledge it is the original structure. however the owner was only aware of lights and flags being used...... i feel the tower is shortened by 2 floors and the original semaphore (which you see next) lost.

 

[Joyseeker]

Chatley Heath Semaphore

this one should have been easy to find if i just didn't go walking off confidently into the woods and heath..... i had to return for the signs. from the car park should take 15mins walk through beautiful but motorway noisy sandy land. horses everywhere.

this one has recently been fully restored and open to all weekends (not sure of details).

note the semaphore thingy on the top and why are so many windows blocked up?

directions. get to junction of A3 and M25 and head for guildford. on the slip road take first left and then left into the car park with cafe.

 

[Joyseeker]

i am utterly amazed you found this out so quick fanum..... and to this detail.



nodes 5 Chatley Heath and 6 Esher puzzle me. i am aware of a semaphore tower in pains hill park, cobham side of the m25, and one on the otherside of the same motorway..... both visible from the a3 and both less then a mile apart....... in the woods.

one must have been moved...... i'll go take a look see..... its been 10 years but i've been up both.

the pains hill park tower turned out to be a golic style folly to the same style as leith hill viewing tower.

the chatley heath semaphore is not visable from a3 but maybe from the m25..... the nerd corrects on nodes.

 

[Gunboat Willy]

the pains hill park tower turned out to be a golic style folly to the same style as leith hill viewing tower.

the chatley heath semaphore is not visable from a3 but maybe from the m25..... the nerd corrects on nodes.

Don't think it's visible from the M25. You can walk from it over a little bridge over the M25 but it's pretty much surrounded by trees now.

If you like a quest like finding all the semaphore towers...how about a lap of London finding all the Coal Posts? They formed a boundary around London at which coal and wine attracted duty IIRC. They're white, sequentially numbered, about 3ft 6in high with a crest on. There's a good sequence alongside the golf course at Walton Heath.

There are some missing though.

 

[Joyseeker]

Don't think it's visible from the M25. You can walk from it over a little bridge over the M25 but it's pretty much surrounded by trees now.

If you like a quest like finding all the semaphore towers...how about a lap of London finding all the Coal Posts? They formed a boundary around London at which coal and wine attracted duty IIRC. They're white, sequentially numbered, about 3ft 6in high with a crest on. There's a good sequence alongside the golf course at Walton Heath.

There are some missing though.

sounds like a good one to do after this one..... start me off with a pic

 

[Gunboat Willy]

sounds like a good one to do after this one..... start me off with a pic

Hmm...don't have photo I can upload. There's a pic here though.

 

[Joyseeker]

Hmm...don't have photo I can upload. There's a pic here though.

sounds like a good thing to do this winter...... london is no joy in the summer heat......

on the semaphore side of things ..... fancy finding? ...

1. Admiralty
2. Chelsea
3. Putney Heath


i'm inclined to link up portsmouth to guildford

 

[Joyseeker]

Semaphore node 11 Marden

this one is off the B2141 and signed 'telegraph house'. not easy to get too....... long private drive lined by red trees. checked with the royal oak pub to see if they were friendly before i jumped over the fencing

i was given a nice cold drink and sat down to read a study of the place and the semaphore chain. the house was also owned by a famous play write..... forget the name now. tv crews had been in last month doing a doc on him.

i skimmed read the paper and left what was now a manor astate (which does have public footpaths through it but not directly). the original tower was wood and sadly when the astate was formed they built another tower on the foundations.

the house was very friendly ..... in walking the mile back an estate hand was sent to drive me back to the bike.

 

[Joyseeker]

where am i

on route to marden i stopped here. the foreman having yeld at me to stop melted as i admired his ducati 916.

the chairs you see is the smoking area as smoking is not permitted on site.

'green crude' is pumped out of 4 bore holes here and trucked to alton for treatment. they boast 800 barrels a day when they management leave them alone

go on ..... where am i?

 

[Joyseeker]

Semaphore node 12 Compton

thanks to the village post office. they directed me to this bye way. this node is also known as 'telegarph house' now owned by a property developer.

apparantly this one never had a tower and the semaphore pole came out the roof. the left half of the house is original.

sadly changes are happening round the back which has also got a swimming pool.

the owner was out but his builders got interested in this quest. here checking thye date of one of the out buildings for the date. i had learned back at mardon these semaphore had out buildings. sadly 1850 ..... telegraph had taken over by then.

looking from compton back to marden. the nodes are typically 5 miles apart accept for the approaches to portsmouth and london. i suspect 2 climatic reasons for this. 1st the locals here complain of more then there fair share of winter fog. 2nd back in the 1800s they burned coal and wood which would have made fog worse and created smog.

this developer knows what he has got and lives there himself..... you will see at the next node .... he keeps main features

leaving compton

 

[Joyseeker]

Semaphore node 10 Woolbeding

ahhhhhh ..... noooooo .... they changed the name. and not really in woolbeding. the hardest node to find so far as those i asked had no clue or pointed me the wrong way. lots of green laning and walking done here and even strayed into lord sainsbury's estate. i also bumped into a couple on a r80gs (too clean and renovated to be used like tiff's) at 'old hill'

the clue was some locals knew of 'telegraph hill' behind 'old hill'. when i saw it i knew and with a warm feeling. i'm bonding now with this history. its on a bye way...... i chose the easy approach via king edward's hospital on the A286 but you can green lane from old hill.

the owners have lived here for 20 years and did not know geograph past haselmere. they were also having tea and i did not want to bother them though i was offered a phone number to call should i want to see the inside later.

recognise the roof config? this picture was taken from a concete structure i suspected to be the water store.

you can just about pick out marden on the horizon. back at marden i learnt that for a navel officer to be posted to a semaphore node ..... signalled his career was going no further. well, what a great way to tell them as the countryside around here was wild and fantastic. a real bastion of the anglos.

the marden papers also offer a clue as to why these nodes have gone into private hands with only one presurved and open to all ...... the nodes were built on rented land ...... £1 20s per year at marden ..... goosh forgotten how to write old money

 

[jnrobert]

What a great thread

 

[judge]

If I was looking for some joy I think I just sought some - that's my kind of treasure hunt

 

[Joyseeker]

Semaphore node 3 Putney Heath

yes a pub a run down pub owned by the 'spirit group' now in the process of selling it. the landlord still kind in troubled times along with his wife. if you know the 'green man' at 'tibbet's corner' the 'telegraph' is not far and at the end of telegraph road. a roast lunch for less then a fiver and well kept bitter.

the main part of the building went up in the late 1800s so probably swollowed the tower and out buildings. but the feel of the place was right. also signs of man made water storage ....... the cellar, the landlord said, has an old stone chamber and behind me (just like guildford) large waterboard underground reservoir.

the landlord had an old photo of when the pub first started in this oasis of heath land 5 miles from the city. i told the landlord i would return and hoped some GSers might too. this land was once part of an estate with buildings for rich city families escaping the smog.

i wished him luck and then stumbled on a disused stretch of the portsmouth road (A3) now turned back into a by way.

 

[Joyseeker]

Semaphore node 4 Coombe Warren

potential bad news here.

there is no place called 'coombe warren'. but there are lots of coombes and warrens on kingston hill. can't be more then 3 miles from node 3.

the picture tells the story and given to me by the guard in the gate house. but the picture did not make my soul ease. 'this node is not dead' this nerd's soul says. there is still hope ...... TRY MORE ...... is what me says ..... "i am hidden in all this new wealthy development. find me!" is what i hear. 'they want you to believe i am gone' is what the voice also says (grade 2 listed you should be). i will not name but someone living told me something else also.

the telegraph cottage was demolished and in the grounds is now a compound of 4 new and posh houses behind the gate. owned by a nationality i am familiar with. when i lived in that country anyone trying to take artefacts out that country could be jailed.

in the guard house was a local paper article on the 'old cottage' (double sheet) pinned to a cupboard. i gave my email and am promised a copy by the security guard.

this is why the cottage is fussed on. the sign is at the entrance to what is a very long 'private' road. a road which branches into more private and of course the 'coombe hill' golf course.

their was nothing in the 'telegraph cottage' pic that said this is a 'node' and where was the water storage?

the golf course staff tried to help but they were too 'kingston' relieved of consciousness and focused on dosh worship. but i have a plan. (i felt i needed to leave before being asked to leave the warrens.) i'm going to get an old map and get a fix. then i'm going to get a nerd with a gps and ride to the spot....... new blood will find the old.