Signal Tower Museum tower room opens to the public

By Deborah Welsh
Published 21st Oct 2021, 15:52 BST
Updated 25th Oct 2021, 12:17 BST
Arbroath’s Signal Tower Museum’s dramatic spiral staircase.Arbroath’s Signal Tower Museum’s dramatic spiral staircase.
Arbroath’s Signal Tower Museum’s dramatic spiral staircase.
ANGUSalive is looking forward to offering visitors to the Signal Tower Museum in Arbroath an opportunity to climb the spiral staircase and visit the tower room from Saturday, October 30.

Visitors to the museum have previously only been able to climb the dramatic spiral staircase and visit the tower room during infrequent special events, sadly the internal décor of the tower room and stairs has meant this access has not been possible recently. Thanks to funding the tower room has been sympathetically restored.

An award of £34,000 from the Arbroath Town Centre Fund, has allowed renovation of the tower and 360 tours to be produced which provide virtual access to previously inaccessible parts of the building. The Town Centre fund grant awarded by Angus Council aims to stimulate and support place based economic investments which encourage towns to diversify and flourish, creating footfall through local improvements and partnerships.

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The Signal Tower Museum, located near the town’s harbour, enables visitors to discover the story of the Bell Rock Lighthouse designed by the famous engineer, Robert Stevenson (1772-1850), as well as an insight into Arbroath’s fishing and maritime past. The purpose of the building was to allow communication or signalling with the keepers stationed on the Bell Rock lighthouse, in the early days of operation the copper ball mechanisms on the top of both Signal Tower and lighthouse were used, in conjunction with flags, as main methods of communication, hence the name Signal Tower.

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    The tower room will soon be open to the public.The tower room will soon be open to the public.
    The tower room will soon be open to the public.

    Rachel Jackson, Museums Galleries & Archives Operations Lead said: “We’re really excited to be able to allow visitor access to this part of the building, it is an iconic tower and many visitors are keen to climb the 70 steps and ladder into the room. To ensure the opportunity to view the tower room is inclusive, we worked with The Airborne Lens Company to produce a virtual reality view which has given us the opportunity to offer a virtual visit that is also available in Gaelic, Polish and Romanian.”

    From Saturday, October 30, guided tours will be available every Saturday, at 12 noon and 1pm. Booking is required due to the limited number of spaces.

    To book visit www.angusalive.scot or call 01241 464554.