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Today I am going to
tell you a little bit about The Shot Tower, we visited this place
while in Tassie but on the day we went there it was closed,
naturally.
Anyway the Shot Tower
is on the Channel Highway about 11.26 kilometres from Hobart, it is
one of the states most historical industrial buildings. It was
completed in 1870 by Joseph Moir, the tower is the only circular
stone shot tower in the southern hemisphere.
It is said that the
tower was completed in eight months but realistic it would have been
more like eight years he then had to discover how the secrets of shot
making. He made his first shot in September 1870.
It was no doubt with
some pride that Joseph Moir himself inscribed the keystone over the
Tower entrance which records his achievement and reads.
“This Shot Tower
was built by the proprietor, Joseph Moir in the year 1870, in its
erection he acted as Engineer, Architect, Carpenter and Overseer.
With merely the assistance of two masons it was completed in eight
months, when the secrets of shot making had to be discovered. After
many persevering efforts the first shot was dropped on the 8th
September 1870”
The
Shot Tower is 48 metres high, has a 6.37metres diameter base and is
3.81 metres at the top. The walls are .86metres thick at the base
decreasing to .52 metres at the top. The staircase within the tower
was the original scaffold and is made up of 31 landings and 287
steps. The small unglazed openings spaced at intervals in the tower
walls give natural lighting to the stairways, the openings were
originally glazed during the erection of the tower.
Tim
would have liked to be able to climb to the top of the tower but as I
said the day we visited it was closed.
On
the 8th August 1956 the Tower, Tower House and just over
3.23 hectares was acquired by the Crown and gazetted as a Historical
Site. On the top floor of the factory building a museum area was set
up with photographs, information panels and short video describing
the shot making process. The museum was open when we were there and
we had a look around it but the tower itself was closed. There is
also a tea room located at the area which also was closed on the day
we were there.
Shot... forgive the potential stupidity, but is this like ammunition shot we're talking?
ReplyDeleteYes it is indeed that type of shot
DeleteI had no idea either. Thanks for clarifying. Beautiful tower. Sad it was closed when you were there. There's an old fort that we've been trying to visit here, sadly it's ALWAYS closed, or terrible weather when we want to go.
DeleteJo-Anne, what is a shot tower? LOVED seeing and reading about it but since I am far away from your culture, I have not heard the term.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea what a shot tower was either it was were they made shot for cannons and such
DeleteToo bad it was closed the day you were there. I hope you have a chance to visit again when it's open and Tim can climb it,
ReplyDeleteYes is we ever get back to that part of Aus we will try another visit
DeleteI was going to ask about "shot tower" and then saw your answer to the first comment. It's an unusual structure.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Yes it is unusual I didn't know they existed and didn't know what they did till we visited the place
DeleteWas going to ask what shot was, too, but saw it above. I immediately thought of buckshot rifles because I have heard of those. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah I have heard of buckshot too, and you are not alone having no idea what it did or what type of shot was made there
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