Brighton Pepper Pot Tour.mp4

Описание: Go on a tour inside the Brighton landmark nicknamed the 'Pepper Box' and later the 'Pepper Pot'. This is situated in the Hanover/Queen's Park area of Brighton, in Sussex, on the south coast of the UK.

This tower built by 1829 by the famous architect Charles Barry (who later designed the Houses of Parliament) for Thomas Attree as part of a huge estate of a villa and gardens (now called Queen's Park). The original idea was to build a water tower, possibly built on an existing well, as can be seen in Barry's sketches in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

However there seems to have been a change of plan and perhaps Barry disguised it in the Italian manner as a rather grand folly or observation tower. Unlike the Royal Pavilion down the road there appears to be not much evidence as to the change of use.

For the last 100 years the base has been used as a toilet block while the tower has been used as a site for a small printing press then storage for the then Brighton Corporation gardeners and then the local Scouts and by 1940 used by the ARP in the period of bombing.

Since 1950s to 1980s the Pepper Box was hired out to artists - one of the most well known being Ken Gray with his electric sculpture installations. Sadly the building and toilets were closed by the 1990s due to safety. At the moment the building is crumbling. The good news is that in 2010 the Friends of the Pepper Pot were formed to raise awareness of this unique structure and the original tram stop shelter nearby. For more details see the website http://pepperpot.info/default.aspx

This wee film was made by Hamish MacGillivray on behalf of the Friends of the Pepper Pot with recycled audio thanks to the Ian Helliwell audio workshops.