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Show GUIDEDBYBEACONS LIVES OF TRAVELERS SAVED DY ''LAND LIQHTHOU3E8." , Safety Signals on Desolate English Water Were a Necessity in Timet 1 Gone By Many of Them Still In Ekletence. i j Of all tho remarkable l.ghthou9es tn existence, nod, t hero arc many of them, what Is described as "the, only land llghthouso" Is the most extraordinary. This Is the lofty tower, 100 feet high, on the lonely levels of Lincoln Heath, live miles from Lincoln, in? tho parish of Dunston. U Is known as "Dunston Pillar," says a writer In London Answers. An-swers. When tho strange building first came Into being In 1701 Lincoln heath was easily the most dangerous wasto pjaco tn Englnnd. About twenty miles square. It had then no made roads, no signposts and no Inclosing hedges. Travelers found It a risky placo. to venture In, especially In tho short days of winter. Tho registers of Lcaslngham church, on the outskirts of the vast solitude, contain accounts of tho burials of many unfortunate travelers who lost their way hero nnd perished In snow- Biunua ii uu lempqsis. So notorious were thoso dangers that at Potter Hanworth nnd at Blank-ncy, Blank-ncy, In this region, there aro pieces of land bequeathed as thank-offerings by strayed wayfarers whose lives had been saved by hearing tho church bell's chimes, so that their steps wero guided to shelter. Tho revenues from theso lands wero Intended to securo tho contlnuanco of those nightly ringings, ring-ings, so thut no others should run such risks. It was Francis Dashwood, Lord lo Despenser, who built Dunston Pillar. It served ns a signpost by day and as a beacon by night, being at that tlmo surmounted by a lantern, which wns brilliantly Illuminated. But, after somoi. fifty-nine years, a good road was at last mado across -these wilds and the lantern was no longer considered necessary. So In place of It a colossal stono statuo of Oeorgo III. was plnccd thcro In 1810, the year of his Jubilee. And there It stands today. Besides Dunst6n Pillar, there are many moro beacons that wero Intended Intend-ed to keep tho old-tlmo travelers In tho right path. We havo ono In tho nelgliboihood of Loudon. This Is the old Iron flrepot, or cresset, on tho nnglo turret of Monken Hadley church, near Barnct, placed thcro originally hundreds of years ago for the express purpose of guiding" travelers who night bo coming after nightfall 'through tho lonely" and deeply wooded districts of Enflcld Chase. Tho Iron pot has, of course, been often renewed. re-newed. A slmllnr flrepot stnuds on tho tower tow-er of Cllllnghnm church, near Clint-ham, Clint-ham, overlooking tho Itlver Medwuy. A much moro elaborate affair, which was as much a "land iTghthouso" ns 'Dunston Plllnr, Is the lantern which rtlll stnnds on the tower of Grcnt Wei-don Wei-don church, In tho Bocklnghtim Forest 'district of Northamptonshire. It was lighted every night for the express purpose of guiding benighted travplern to safety through tho entangled forest'.1 brakes. Of course, many of our lighthouses serving our mariners along our coasts uro actually built on land, notably the famous North Foreland and tho Lizard lights. Among the most curious of theso lb ,Dungencss lighthouse, standing on the desolate wastes of shlnglo on tho Kentish coast. It was about 1015 when tho first llghthouso wus built there by n private pri-vate speculator, who disposed of his Interest to ono William Lanlplough, clerk to tho king's kitchen. |