Saturday 16 November 2013

A tragedy.................................................. Sandiway Round Tower demolished

I spent my childhood growing up in the Cheshire village of Sandiway.
I shared a post about the village and the Round Tower a few years ago... our house was just a few hundred yards up the road.

The Round Tower (a well known local landmark) was built in 1816 as a gatehouse to Vale Royal Abbey. 

1960's road improvements went either side of the historic building.

Disaster!... a car ploughed into the Round Tower on Thursday evening.

I've heard the driver (a woman) luckily only had minor injuries... that's a lot of Cheshire sandstone on the car.

The highways agency and police decided the damaged building had to come down for safety reasons.

It was completely demolished yesterday morning and the stonework removed from the site.
I suspect they took the stones away to prevent them being stolen... a campaign is already under way to make sure the Round Tower is rebuilt.

Our World Tuesday

26 comments:

The Herald said...

It's a shame when something that you've grown up with and has always been there is suddenly no more.

I guess it was living a charmed life with those roads running either side...the inevitable was bound to happen sooner or later.

I would hope that if they rebuild it they'll find it a little safer location...[;o)

TexWisGirl said...

oh, that is sad. i hope they can rebuild it elsewhere.

ADRIAN said...

They should rebuild it on her insurance. Even I could miss something that big. I hope I could. If I didn't I'd'd blame the drink.

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

That makes no sense. It looked repairable to me. I swear, the decisions made by the those in charge of making stupid decisions knows no limits.

holdingmoments said...

Such a shame to see history demolished like that, because some stupid 'driver' couldn't drive.

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

HI Andrew Well that looked like an accident waiting to happen alhtough it is a shame it has gone but I am glad the woman has only minor injuries.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Ohhhh... that is so sad. I hope they can rebuild it.

MadSnapper said...

how sad it was demolished, i liked it a lot...

Our photos said...

That is sad!!
Greetings from Holland, RW & SK

John J said...

That tower is (was) quite a landmark - I hope to heaven it gets rebuilt.
JJ

Brian King said...

I'm glad no one was hurt, but that's a real shame. If there's something of value anywhere near a roadway, leave it to someone to hit it sooner or later.

Stephanie said...

That was too bad that it happened. Nice to know that it will be rebuilt.

Rajesh said...

It is sad to see this falling.

Bob Bushell said...

Why did the people build a road so near?

HansHB said...

Great serie!
Kind of action!

Amy Burzese said...

That is a real shame. Glad of no serious injuries. Hopefully, it can be rebuilt authentically.

Dave said...

I know it well Andrew, passed it many times...... and never even came close to hitting it. I hope it is rebuilt on the same site.

Unknown said...

What a shame!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada. PS Thanks for checking on me.

EG CameraGirl said...

I would be so embarrassed if it had me who demolished that tower!

Heather Wilde said...

It's so sad, it was such an iconic land mark for us all.

Cynthia said...

Sheesh, how could she miss seeing that! It's too bad that it couldn't be repaired.

eileeninmd said...

Looks like a bad accident, I hope the woman was OK. But, sorry about the tower. It would be nice to see it rebuilt. Have a great week!

Fun60 said...

How awful that it has been demolished. Hopefully as they have removed the stones they will rebuild the tower. Although that's not quite the same.

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Fantastic bird photo! And so sad about the historic tower. I'm glad the driver wasn't hurt, but ugh...

Dave said...

It is so sad that they could not repair it.

Unknown said...

I live in North Cheshire and have grown up with this landmark passing it on hundreds of journeys to Shropshire, North Wales or Chester. There was a sand quarry just down the hill where we were given a bucketful of pure sand for our sand trays as kids. I emerged on to the A556 from Cuddington exactly at this point only a month ago (October 2014)and had quite a shock finding the tower gone! I can't believe I had not been past since it went until now! Let's up it is rebuilt - it can be done (see our local rescued and rebuilt dovecote in Sale's Walkden Gardens)