We consider ourselves observant individuals but we get great pleasure when discovering things in our borough that are hidden in plain view. We've walked, cycled and run past this particular spot for years. Recently we've taken dozens and dozens of shots on Hackney Downs. While walking through there recently this beacon seemed to have sprung up from nowhere. An odd sight really considering this is a large grass area (possibly built on a large mound), surely not a Crow's Nest and why. On closer inspection we found the plaque it was erected in commemoration of the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1977.
The steel structure could easily house a gas pipe for a flame but we found no evidence to support that theory. In fact we couldn't find any information on the beacon!
We did notice it was aligned with a small standing stone in the children's play park in the background. Considering Hackney Downs is a sacred place of great energy we researched Beacon and found some interesting definitions.
'A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location.
Beacons help guide navigators to their destinations.
Classically, beacons were fires lit at well-known locations on hills or high places, used either as lighthouses for navigation at sea, or for signalling over land that enemy troops were approaching, in order to alert defenses. As signals, beacons are an ancient form of optical telegraphy, and were part of a relay league.
In England, the most famous examples are the beacons used in Elizabethan England to warn of the approaching Spanish Armada. Many hills in England were named Beacon Hill after such beacons. In the Scottish borders country a system of beacon fires were at one time established to warn of incursions by the English. Hume, Eggerstone castle and Soltra Edge were part of this network
Beacons and bonfires are also used to mark occasions and celebrate events.' Wikipedia