Ocean Road, Jubilee Memorial

1890.
J H Morton, Architect.
John F Scott, Sculptor.
R B Farbridge, Monumental Mason.
45 ft high square ashlar tower, rising in 4 stages, designed in the "classical"
style. First stage plain with a large semi-circular headed recess on each face.
The west one contains a tablet with the inscription "Erected in commemoration of
Jubilee of H M Queen Victoria June 20th 1887, as a memorial of the beneficent work
of the lifeboat as designed and built in South Shields in year 1790." The north
and south each contain a fountain whose waters originally fail into basins at the
base of the tower. These basins now removed. The east recess contains a door
giving access to the interior of the tower.
The second stage has pilasters set at right angles to the corners with entablature
breaking forward over them. West face carries a medallion portrait of Wouldhare,
the east face one of Greathead. Wouldhare and Greathead are the disputed inventors
of the modern lifeboat. The north and south faces have reliefs of a shipwreck and
the return of the lifeboat. The third stage, set back behind a balustraded parapet, contains a clock and the crowning fourth stage is an open cupola. LISTED GRADE 2