Unknown Building and Tower – W. A. Skill, Lincoln (pre-1892?)

An unusual cabinet card photograph in the collection of Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum, showing an unidentified building with a remarkably tall tower.

The low, circular building has a broad, shallow-pitched roof, from which rises a tall, narrow tower fitted with a ladder, platforms and an elaborate structure at the top. A separate tall brick chimney can be seen behind the building, with a hedge, gate, brick walls and an unmade road surrounding the site.

The purpose and location of the building are currently unknown. Its unusual construction suggests that it may have been associated with an industrial, engineering or other specialist installation.

The photographer was W. A. Skill, Architectural & Landscape Photographer, 58 Bailgate, Lincoln. He was William Arthur Skill (1851–1903), son of Lincoln civil engineer and surveyor William Skill and elder brother of photographer Frederick John Skill (1857–1920). The Skill family lived at 64 Bailgate, Lincoln. In 1881, William Arthur was recorded as a clerk and surveyor, while Frederick was a photographer and surveyor's assistant.

An advertisement in the Lincoln Gazette in March 1892 records that Caleb C. Smith, Photographer, of Norman Street, Lincoln, had acquired the photographic publishing and general business previously carried on by W. A. Skill of Newport, Lincoln, together with his negatives, copyrights and goodwill. Frederick John Skill was to manage the photographic department of Smith's business, which undertook commissions for photographing buildings, machinery, animals and groups.

William Arthur Skill died in Lincoln on 5 September 1903, so the photograph dates from no later than 1903. The photograph is likely to date from before 1892, when William Arthur Skill's photographic publishing and general business was acquired by Caleb C. Smith, together with Skill's negatives, copyrights and goodwill.

Can you identify this building or tower, or recognise where it was located? Any information would be very gratefully received.