The Worcestershire Beacon Toposcope
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The Worcestershire Beacon Toposcope
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Panoramic photo by
Robert Bilsland
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The Worcestershire Beacon ToposcopeThe World > Europe > UK > England |
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Sitting at the northern end of the Malvern Hills, the Worcestershire beacon is the highest peak (at 425 meters) on the hills. Atop of this sits a toposcope (in the panoramic view it's below you, just look down). Installed in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, it consists of a stone pedestal topped with a brass disc. The disc shows a circular map detailing every visible point of interest able to be seen from the beacon.
Unfortunately on the 23rd February 2000 the brass disc was prized from its pedestal and stolen. Luckily the original disc was recovered in December 2001 but what you see below is not the original but a copy, it was decided that the original was too valuable.
Even though it was a misty day in the valley, you can still see Malvern below you to the east and the range of the hills disappearing to the south. The disc itself is made up of a map in the centre with a representation of the horizon around the outside of it. Finally outside that are the names of all the visible points of interest along with their distances away.
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Europe is generally agreed to be the birthplace of western culture, including such legendary innovations as the democratic nation-state, football and tomato sauce.
The word Europe comes from the Greek goddess Europa, who was kidnapped by Zeus and plunked down on the island of Crete. Europa gradually changed from referring to mainland Greece until it extended finally to include Norway and Russia.
Don't be confused that Europe is called a continent without looking like an island, the way the other continents do. It's okay. The Ural mountains have steadily been there to divide Europe from Asia for the last 250 million years. Russia technically inhabits "Eurasia".
Europe is presently uniting into one political and economic zone with a common currency called the Euro. The European Union originated in 1993 and is now composed of 27 member states. Its headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium.
Do not confuse the EU with the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states and dates to 1949. These two bodies share the same flag, national anthem, and mission of integrating Europe. The headquarters of the Council are located in Strasbourg, France, and it is most famous for its European Court of Human Rights.
In spite of these two bodies, there is still no single Constitution or set of laws applying to all the countries of Europe. Debate rages over the role of the EU in regards to national sovereignty. As of January 2009, the Lisbon Treaty is the closest thing to a European Constitution, yet it has not been approved by all the EU states.
Text by Steve Smith.
