Скачать или смотреть The Tower at Crane Park

This video showcases the tower at Crane Park, Whitton. It's a Grade II listed building, a remnant of a gunpowder works that was once located here. Today this historic building is a visitor attraction and an architectural icon of the Crane Valley.

The tower sits at the entrance to Crane Park Island, a lovely nature reserve managed by London Wildlife Trust. The reserve is on the River Crane, an urban watercourse and important nature corridor.

The tower is an impressive structure built of brick (English Bond) with a lead roof, and rises 25 metres into the west London sky. Its riverside location is a clue to its original function. Once believed to be a 'shot tower' (and still signposted and labelled as such), the current thinking is that it was in fact a windmill that was used to pump water. By recirculating river water, the gunpowder mill would better be able to keep its waterwheels operating during times of low flow in the Crane. The pumped water could also have been stored for use on site. Although the sails are no longer present, the tower certainly has the look and features of a windmill although it is now surrounded by tall trees.

The tower is occupied by London Wildlife Trust under lease from London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. There is a small exhibition area and a toilet on the ground floor, and an office, classrooms and a gallery on the floors above. The top floor is a viewing platform. From here it is possible to look down on the River Crane and the Crane Park Island bank, but the preponderance of tall trees in the immediate vicinity of the tower means there are no vistas of the wider park area or indeed the urban landscape beyond. The tower is currently (spring 2023) open to the public at weekends, 9am-5pm.

A very welcome recent addition to the visitor offer has been the 'Thirst Off All' mobile catering concession which over the summer of 2023 will be open Wednesday - Friday (08:30-17:30) and Saturday - Sunday (08:00 - 17:30) serving drinks and light snacks.

[All the quoted opening times were correct at time of this post.]