Semaphore Telegraph Signalling Towers
Location: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal.
Founded in: 1816 -1830
Status: Structures in state of disuse and disrepair
Industry: COMMUNICATION INFRA.
Founded in: 1816 -1830
Status: Structures in state of disuse and disrepair
Industry: COMMUNICATION INFRA.
With the last telegram sent out in 2014, the age of the telegraph has come to a grinding halt. The predecessor, the semaphore telegraph’s towers, serve an important chapter in the history of communication.
Planted across West Bengal and Jharkhand are several masonry towers about two hundred years old. The hollow structures are usually four- or two-storied. The latter are found atop hills in the Purulia district or in parts of Jharkhand, while the four-storied towers stand tall in open fields, crowded streets or deep inside remote jungles. Often indentified as watch towers, these are semaphore signal towers — key to the optical telegraph lines set up by the British between 1816 and 1830. The lines were part of a long-distance communication system based on towers with shutters or moving wooden arms using semaphore signals. The longest semaphore line in India was four-hundred-miles long, stretching from Calcutta to Chunar. On a clear day, news reached from Fort William, a British outpost in the capital of the Bengal Presidency, to Chunar in fifty odd minutes.
Planted across West Bengal and Jharkhand are several masonry towers about two hundred years old. The hollow structures are usually four- or two-storied. The latter are found atop hills in the Purulia district or in parts of Jharkhand, while the four-storied towers stand tall in open fields, crowded streets or deep inside remote jungles. Often indentified as watch towers, these are semaphore signal towers — key to the optical telegraph lines set up by the British between 1816 and 1830. The lines were part of a long-distance communication system based on towers with shutters or moving wooden arms using semaphore signals. The longest semaphore line in India was four-hundred-miles long, stretching from Calcutta to Chunar. On a clear day, news reached from Fort William, a British outpost in the capital of the Bengal Presidency, to Chunar in fifty odd minutes.
Sources:
1.https://amitabhagupta.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/optical-telegraph-in-india-the-forgotten-saga/
2.https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/destinations/last-towers-standing/
3.https://rangandatta.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/semaphore-towers-a-pre-telegram-communication-system/
1.https://amitabhagupta.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/optical-telegraph-in-india-the-forgotten-saga/
2.https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/destinations/last-towers-standing/
3.https://rangandatta.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/semaphore-towers-a-pre-telegram-communication-system/