Tipton Telephone Exchange (Trigpointing TP18179)

The old Post Office is a spectacular building on the corner of these two streets part of which you can see to the right of the Tipton Telephone Exchange in the photo.

I pass both of these regularly but on this run I was focused on the Exchange itself since it contains Triangulation Point # 18179, a pin that would classify as ‘inaccessible’ in most instances but which is listed as ‘destroyed’ in the database. Probably, it was in the yard that would have been overrun with cable spools in the Olden Days (like the 1990s), and got paved over when the concrete slab went in; alternatively — and more likely — it was on part of the flat roof and was chipped out or simply re-roofed-over with some sort of tar/gravel aggregate.

The site is currently integral in the shift from copper to fibre optics in the area, and the BT OpenReach repair vans in the vicinity seemed to deploy from the site. It and the Post Office were involved in a fire a few years back.

So that the trip wasn’t entirely a bust, I chased a Cut Mark on the Telephone Exchange. Streetside and substantially closer-to-ground-level than stated in the app I used (which consults an even dodgier database than the one I’m using for planning), this mark indicates the depth of the older roads and pavements as 8-10 inches below the current level…I should carry a tape measure from now on.