In the 1890s, London came incredibly close to having its very own Eiffel Tower- a structure even taller than the Shard!
Known as Watkin’s Tower or Watkin’s Folly, this ambitious project was the brainchild of railway magnate Sir Edward Watkin. Set to soar 1,175 feet above Wembley Park, this unfinished landmark was meant to crown a new pleasure park just 12 minutes by train from Baker Street.
In this video, we explore the fascinating history of this forgotten landmark, the eccentric designs submitted to a competition (including ones featuring spiral walkways, steam trains, and even parachutes!) and why the tower never came to be...
📚 View the original design catalogue here: https://archive.org/details/descriptiveillus00lynd/page/n3/mode/2up
🔔 Subscribe for more London history: https://www.youtube.com/@Robslondon
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Chapters
00:00 The Eiffel Tower's Forgotten Rival
01:02 Who was Sir Edward Watkin?
02:20 A Vision for Wembley Park
04:54 A Crazy Contest: Designs for the Wembley Tower
11:21 The Winner- & Building Begins
12:54 A Very British Setback
13:53 Why the Scheme Fell Apart
15:02 Echoes of Watkin's Dream
16:10 Outro
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#LondonHistory #WatkinsTower #VictorianLondon #LostLondon #Wembley #EiffelTower #UKHistory
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Links for this video
Wembley Stadium
https://www.wembleystadium.com/
Battersea Power Station Lift 109
https://lift109.co.uk
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My other links:
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/cabmirror
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/robert_lordan/?hl=en-gb
Thanks again for watching, friends. Stay well, and please be sure to stay tuned!
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Credits
Images & other footage:
Maps: National Library of Scotland
Comic Telegraph Head: The London Illustrated News, 1951
Forth Railway Bridge footage: Radu Daniel (MRD), via pexels.com
Old Wembley Stadium: Merv Payne, Creative Commons
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Sound Effects:
Dorset Seaside Town (Carlvus)
Hammering Construction: Soundscape_Leuphana (free sound.org)
Dynamite explosion in the mountain (Felix.blume)
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Music:
English Country Garden (Aaron Kenny)
Brandenburg Concerto No4-1 BWV1049 - Classical Whimsical by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100303
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Analogue Cabin (Noir Et Blanc Vie)
Danse Morialta by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200026
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Fine Dining (TrackTribe)
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