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Jacob's Ladder (Saint Helena)

Stairway in Jamestown, Saint Helena

Field	Value
name	Jacob's Ladder
image	Jamestown Jacobs Ladder.jpg
image_width	250px
caption	The view down Jacob's Ladder,
looking onto Jamestown
type	Funicular
locale	Jamestown, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
start	Jamestown (lower station)
end	Half Tree Hollow (upper station)
stations	2
open
close
owner	Saint Helena Railway Company
stock	2 cars
linelength	281.6 m
gauge
maxincline	87% (41°)
elevation	183 m
coordinates

looking onto Jamestown

Jacob's Ladder is a Grade I listed staircase leading from Jamestown, Saint Helena, up the side of Ladder Hill to Ladder Hill Fort. The name is a reference to the biblical Jacob's Ladder, a ladder extending to heaven.

The ladder is all that remains of a cable railway that was built there in the early 1800s. Its tracks and cars were later removed, although the stairs have remained in place and have become a tourist attraction connecting Jamestown and the suburb of Half Tree Hollow at the top of the hill.

History and description

Designed by the local engineer J. W. Hoar, the Saint Helena Railway Company built a two-car inclined plane, 924 ft-long, in 1829 to carry cargo between Jamestown and the fort. The cars rode on a pair of iron-plated fir rails, laid on wooden sleepers anchored into the rock of the valley wall, that were separated by a staircase of 700 steps for pedestrians. The angle of ascent varied between 39 and 41 degrees. Motive power was provided by a team of three donkeys at the top that rotated a capstan connected to the cars by an iron chain and pulleys.

Termite damage to the sleepers caused the Royal Engineers to remove the cars, rails and associated machinery in 1871, and it is now known as Jacob's Ladder. Subsequent roadwork covered one step so that only 699 remain. Lights were installed along the sides of the stairs in 2000 and the steps were refurbished in 2006. The staircase has been declared a Grade I listed structure. During the island's annual "Festival of Running", a timed run takes place up Jacob's Ladder, with people coming from around the world to take part. , the record time to ascend the stairs is 5 minutes, 16.78 seconds.

Gallery

File:Looking down from the top of Jacob's Ladder at night.jpg|Looking down at night File:Jacob's Ladder in Jamestown just behind the Saint Helena Museum.jpg|Foot of the ladder in Jamestown File:Jacobs Ladder viewed from the harbour of Jamestown.jpg|From the harbour File:Jacob's Ladder in Jamestown March 2020.jpg|View while climbing File:Jacob's Ladder behind HM Prison in Jamestown Saint Helena.jpg|From behind the prison File:Plaque about Jacob's Ladder in Jamestown.jpg|Plaque in Jamestown

References

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

transport-in-saint-helena rail-transport-in-saint-helena,-ascension-and-tristan-da-cunha jamestown,-saint-helena grade-i-listed-buildings-in-saint-helena stairways railway-lines-opened-in-1829 railway-lines-closed-in-1871

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