Beckford's Tower

Last updated

Beckford's Tower
Lansdown Tower
Beckford's Tower - geograph.org.uk - 746959.jpg
Beckford's Tower with part of the surrounding cemetery
Location Lansdown Hill, Bath, Somerset, England
Coordinates 51°24′23″N2°22′44″W / 51.4064°N 2.3789°W / 51.4064; -2.3789
Height154 feet (47 m)
Built1827
Built for William Thomas Beckford
Restored1972 (house), 1997-2000 (tower)
Restored by J. Owen Williams (house), Caroe & Partners, Mann Williams Structural Engineers (tower)
Architect Henry Goodridge
OwnerThe Beckford Tower Trust (Bath Preservation Trust)
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameBeckford's Tower, with attached wall and railings
Designated11 August 1972 [1]
Reference no.1394133
Official nameLansdown Cemetery and Beckford's Tower
Designated30 April 1987 [2]
Reference no.1000563
Somerset UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Beckford's Tower in Somerset

Beckford's Tower, originally known as Lansdown Tower, is an architectural folly built in neo-classical style on Lansdown Hill, just outside Bath, Somerset, England. The tower and its attached railings are designated as a Grade I listed building. [1] Along with the adjoining Lansdown Cemetery it is Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England. [2]

Contents

The tower was built for William Thomas Beckford, a wealthy novelist, art collector and critic, to designs by Henry Goodridge, and was completed in 1827. Beckford used it as a library and a retreat, with the cupola at the top acting as a belvedere providing views over the surrounding countryside. The Italianate building at the base of the tower housed drawing rooms and a library. Extensive grounds between Beckford's house in Lansdown Crescent and the tower were landscaped and planted to create Beckford's Ride.

William Beckford's ability to build, and to collect, was made possible by the wealth he inherited and continued to accumulate as an owner of plantations and enslaved people, and through the compensation he received from the government following the abolition of slavery. [3] This aspect of his life is explored within the Beckford Tower Museum displays. [4]

Following Beckford's death in 1844, the tower and lands were donated to Walcot parish and a burial ground created, with the Scarlet Drawing Room being converted into a chapel. In 1931 the house and tower were damaged by a fire and a public appeal was made for funds for its restoration. The cemetery closed in 1992 and the next year the site was bought by the Bath Preservation Trust who have carried out extensive renovation. It is now home to a museum displaying furniture originally made for the tower and paintings, prints and objects illustrating Beckford's life as a writer, collector and patron of the arts.

History

William Thomas Beckford (1760-1844) William Thomas Beckford (1 October 1760 - 2 May 1844).jpg
William Thomas Beckford (1760–1844)

Beckford's Tower in Lansdown, overlooking the city of Bath, was completed in 1827 for wealthy local resident William Beckford, to a design by Bath architect Henry Goodridge. [5] Beckford was a member of the influential Beckford family. He was a novelist, an art collector and patron of works of decorative art, a critic, travel writer and sometime politician, reputed at one stage to be the richest commoner in England. In 1822 he sold Fonthill Abbey, and a large part of his art collection, to John Farquhar for £330,000, and moved to Bath, where he bought No. 20 Lansdown Crescent and No. 1 Lansdown Place West, joining them with a one-storey arch thrown across a driveway. In 1836 he also bought Nos. 18 and 19 Lansdown Crescent. [6]

Located at the end of pleasure gardens called Beckford's Ride which ran from his house in Lansdown Crescent all the way north to the tower at the top of Lansdown Hill, Beckford used the monument as both a library and a retreat. [7] He also made it his habit to ride up to the tower to view the progress of gardens and works, then walk back down to Lansdown Crescent for breakfast. From the top of the tower, with a strong spyglass, Beckford could make out shipping in the Bristol Channel. [8] Beckford wished that he had built the tower forty feet higher and admitted: "such as it is, it is a famous landmark for drunken farmers on their way home from market". [8]

Beckford's own choice of the best of works of art, vertu , books and prints, as well as the rich furnishings from Fonthill Abbey, were rehoused in his adjoining houses in Lansdown Crescent, Bath and at the tower. One long narrow room in the tower was fitted out as an "oratory", where the paintings were all of devotional subjects and a marble Virgin and Child stood bathed in light from a hidden skylight. In 1841 some of the contents of the tower were sold during a two-day sale and the rooms refurnished. [9]

Later owners

A chromolith by Willis Maddox of the Crimson Drawing Room at Beckford's Tower. First published in English's Views of Lansdown Tower (1844) Crimson drawing room. Beckfords Tower 1844.JPG
A chromolith by Willis Maddox of the Crimson Drawing Room at Beckford's Tower. First published in English's Views of Lansdown Tower (1844)

After Beckford's death on 2 May 1844 his younger daughter Susan Euphemia Beckford, wife of Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, removed the books and greatest treasures to Hamilton Palace and the tower was put up for sale. It failed to reach its reserve, however. In 1847 the tower was sold for £1,000 to a local publican who turned it into a beer garden. [10] Eventually it was re-purchased by Beckford's daughter, who gave the surrounding land to Walcot parish for consecration as a cemetery in 1848. [2] This enabled the return of Beckford's body from his tomb in Bath Abbey Cemetery, Lyncombe Vale (off Ralph Allen Drive) for reburial near the tower as he had originally wished. His self-designed tomb – a massive sarcophagus of polished pink granite with bronze armorial plaques – stands on a hillock in the cemetery surrounded by an oval ditch and ha-ha. On one side is a quotation from his Gothic novel Vathek : "Enjoying humbly the most precious gift of heaven to man – Hope"; and on another these lines from his poem, A Prayer: "Eternal Power! Grant me, through obvious clouds one transient gleam Of thy bright essence in my dying hour." [11] The Scarlet Drawing Room was converted into a chapel in 1848 to serve the cemetery. [1] In 1864 the Rector of Walcot gave £100 for the repair of tower stonework and in 1884 a similar amount of money for further repairs to the upper part of the tower, but the condition of the stonework was deteriorating by 1898 and described in 1918 as "piteous and dilapidated". [12]

In 1931 an unexplained fire destroyed much of the interior of the house, which had been turned into a cemetery chapel. [13] The local fire brigade managed to stop the fire reaching the wooden stairs to the top of the tower. [14] Prebendary F. E. Murphy, the rector of Walcot, established an appeal for funds of £300 for the restoration. [11] [15] [16] By 1954 the stairs up the tower had become unsafe and a further appeal for public funds for the restoration was started. [11] In 1970 the Church Commissioners declared the chapel redundant and plans drawn up by the new owners, Dr & Mrs Hilliard, to renovate the tower and create two flats. In 1972 the tower was designated as a Grade I listed building. [17] The Beckford Tower Trust and the museum were established in 1977. [18]

Bath Preservation Trust

Since 1993 the tower has been owned by the Bath Preservation Trust [19] and managed by its subsidiary, The Beckford Tower Trust, a registered charity. [20] [21] The tower was restored in 1995 [22] and was opened to the public in 2001. [23] The ground floor of the tower is available to rent through the Landmark Trust as a holiday home. [24]

In 2019, Historic England placed the tower on their Heritage at Risk Register as it was suffering from water penetration. [23] In the same year, Bath Preservation Trust announced it was raising funds for a £3 million project to restore the tower and surroundings, including the grotto tunnel, and increase public engagement. [25] An initial £390,900 was received from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in December 2019, [26] and the trust was able to buy the site, of about 2.5 acres, in 2021. [27] In September 2022, a £3 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund was confirmed, reaching the then fundraising target of £3.9 million. [28]

Architecture

The spiral staircase Beckford's Tower Lansdown 03.JPG
The spiral staircase

Standing 154 feet (47 m) high, [29] the tower has three stages. The first stage is square with small windows and terminates in a Doric entablature and cornice. The second stage has plain square piers forming three openings with recessed arches. [29] The tower is topped by a gilded lantern (or belvedere), based on the peripteral temple at Tivoli and the Tower of the Winds at Athens. [30] The octagonal belvedere has a cast iron roof supported by eight columns. [31] A stone spiral cantilevered staircase leads to the 53 wooden stairs giving access to the cupola at the summit. [29] At the base of the tower was a furnace and pump which sent warm air up through the structure. [11]

Below the tower is an Italianate building. On the ground floor was the Scarlet Drawing Room and a vestibule with an annexe which housed a kitchen and offices. The first floor held the Crimson Drawing Room, sanctuary and library. [11]

Cemetery and grounds

The entrance gateway with the top of the tower in the background Gateway and Beckfords Tower near Lansdown (geograph 3831784).jpg
The entrance gateway with the top of the tower in the background

From Beckford's house in Lansdown Crescent to the tower, a series of interlinked gardens were laid out which became known as Beckford's Ride. [32] Nearest the crescent was a terraced Italianate garden and then a plantation of conifers. Above the plantation was a quarry garden and dyke garden; a grotto tunnel under a track led into the tower garden. Specialist planting included Pinus arborea, Royal Fern ( Osmunda regalis ) and Cistus alpina, in order to encourage bird species including nightingales, linnets and thrushes. [33] The old quarry was made into a walled garden with fruit and vegetables. [34]

Henry Goodridge designed a Byzantine entrance gateway to the grounds. [35] Bronze railings were later added which had surrounded Beckford's original tomb in Bath Abbey Cemetery. [36] The railings were removed during World War II and replaced in 2000. [37] The gardens were surrounded by stone walls around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high. [38]

Beckford's tomb in front of the tower William Beckford's tomb at Beckfords Tower 04.JPG
Beckford's tomb in front of the tower

Part of the grounds were donated to the local parish after Beckford's death and consecrated as a cemetery in 1848. [2] It became known as Lansdown Cemetery and burial plots were laid out in a grid pattern. [2] It was extended in 1947 and again in 1961. [39] In addition to Beckford's tomb, the cemetery is also the burial site for several notable people from Bath, including Henry Goodridge, [40] Field Marshall William Rowan, the Holburne family who founded the Holburne Museum, Anne (the wife of Sir Richard Bickerton, 2nd Baronet) and the feminist writer Sarah Grand. [41]

The cemetery closed in 1992 and since then has been maintained by the local council and the Lansdown Cemetery Trust. [42]

Museum

The tower is home to a museum displaying furniture originally made for the tower, [43] alongside paintings, prints and objects illustrating William Beckford's life as a writer, collector and patron of the arts. [44] Visitors can climb the spiral staircase to the restored belvedere below the lantern and experience panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. [45]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath, Somerset</span> City in Somerset, England

Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Bristol. The city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, and was later added to the transnational World Heritage Site known as the "Great Spa Towns of Europe" in 2021. Bath is also the largest city and settlement in Somerset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Beckford (novelist)</span> English novelist, art critic, slaveholder and politician (1760–1844)

William Thomas Beckford was an English novelist, art critic, planter and politician. He was reputed at one stage to be England's richest commoner. The son of William Beckford and Maria Hamilton, daughter of the Hon. George Hamilton, he served as a Member of Parliament for Wells in 1784–1790 and Hindon in 1790–1795 and 1806–1820. Beckford is best known for writing the 1786 Gothic novel Vathek, for building the Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire and Beckford's Tower in Bath, and for his extensive art collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Crescent</span> Georgian crescent in Bath, Somerset

The Royal Crescent is a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a sweeping crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger, and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a Grade I listed building. Although some changes have been made to the various interiors over the years, the Georgian stone facade remains much as it was when first built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lansdown Crescent, Bath</span> Row of buildings in Bath, England

Lansdown Crescent is a well-known example of Georgian architecture in Bath, Somerset, England, designed by John Palmer and constructed by a variety of builders between 1789 and 1793. The buildings have a clear view over central Bath, being sited on Lansdown Hill near to, but higher than, other well-known Georgian buildings including the Royal Crescent, St James's Square, Bath and The Circus, Bath. It forms the central part of a string of curved terraces, including Lansdown Place East and West, and Somerset Place, which were the northernmost boundary of the development of Georgian Bath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prior Park</span> Grade I listed Palladian building in south west England

Prior Park is a Neo-Palladian house that was designed by John Wood, the Elder, and built in the 1730s and 1740s for Ralph Allen on a hill overlooking Bath, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.

Henry Edmund Goodridge was an English architect based in Bath. He worked from the early 1820s until the 1850s, using Classical, Italianate and Gothic styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lansdown, Bath</span> Suburb of Bath, England

Lansdown is a suburb of the World Heritage City of Bath, England, that extends northwards from the city centre up a road of the same name. Among its most distinctive architectural features are Lansdown Crescent and Sion Hill Place, which includes a campus of Bath Spa University.

John Palmer was an English architect who worked on some of the notable buildings in the city of Bath, Somerset, UK. He succeeded Thomas Baldwin as City Architect in 1792. He died in Bath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath Preservation Trust</span> UK charity

The Bath Preservation Trust is a charity that is based in Bath, Somerset, England, which exists to safeguard for the public benefit the historic character and amenities of the city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its environs. BPT is independent, funded by public membership, grants, donations and income from four museums that it operates in Bath: No. 1 Royal Crescent, the Museum of Bath Architecture, Beckford's Tower, and the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walcot, Bath</span> Area within the City of Bath, England

Walcot is a suburb of the city of Bath, in the Bath and North East Somerset district, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It lies to the north-north-east of the city centre, and is an electoral ward of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Widcombe, Bath</span> Electoral ward in Bath, United Kingdom

Widcombe is a district of Bath, England, immediately south-east of the city centre, across the River Avon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset</span>

Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority created on 1 April 1996, following the abolition of the County of Avon, which had existed since 1974. Part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset occupies an area of 220 square miles (570 km2), two-thirds of which is green belt. It stretches from the outskirts of Bristol, south into the Mendip Hills and east to the southern Cotswold Hills and Wiltshire border. The city of Bath is the principal settlement in the district, but BANES also covers Keynsham, Midsomer Norton, Radstock and the Chew Valley. The area has a population of 170,000, about half of whom live in Bath, making it 12 times more densely populated than the rest of the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camden Crescent, Bath</span> Historic site in Somerset, England

Camden Crescent in Bath, Somerset, England, was built by John Eveleigh in 1788; it was originally known as Upper Camden Place. Numbers 6 to 21 have been designated as a Grade I listed buildings. The other houses are Grade II listed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locksbrook Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Bath, England

Locksbrook Cemetery is a municipal cemetery located in Lower Weston, Bath, England. It was opened in 1864 as Walcot Cemetery, and occupies 12 acres (4.9 ha), originally serving the parishes of Walcot, Weston and St Saviour's. The cemetery was closed for general use in 1937 with over 30,000 interments there, though additional burials in existing graves continue. The majority of the cemetery was for about 29,500 burials from Walcot parish, with the north of the cemetery for Weston and St Saviour parishes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buildings and architecture of Bath</span> Permanent structures including significant examples of English architecture from the Roman Baths

The buildings and architecture of Bath, a city in Somerset in the south west of England, reveal significant examples of the architecture of England, from the Roman Baths, to the present day. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, largely because of its architectural history and the way in which the city landscape draws together public and private buildings and spaces. The many examples of Palladian architecture are purposefully integrated with the urban spaces to provide "picturesque aestheticism". In 2021, the city was added to a second World Heritage Site, a group of historic spa towns across Europe known as the "Great Spas of Europe". Bath is the only entire city in Britain to achieve World Heritage status, and is a popular tourist destination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath Abbey Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Bath and North East Somerset, UK

The Anglican Bath Abbey Cemetery, officially dedicated as the Cemetery of St Peter and St Paul, was laid out by noted cemetery designer and landscape architect John Claudius Loudon (1783–1843) between 1843 and 1844 on a picturesque hillside site overlooking Bath, Somerset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Gardens</span> Public open space in Bath, England

Sydney Gardens is a public open space at the end of Great Pulteney Street in Bath, Somerset, England. The gardens are the only remaining eighteenth-century pleasure gardens in the country. They are Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Bath, Somerset</span> History

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bath, Somerset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smallcombe Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom

Smallcombe Cemetery is on the edge of Bath, Somerset, England, in a valley between Widcombe Hill and Bathwick Hill. It has two distinct parts, the Anglican section known as St Mary's Churchyard and the nonconformist section known as Smallcombe Vale cemetery; they are sometimes known together as Smallcombe Garden cemetery. The two cemeteries have been closed to new burials since 1988 and are maintained by Bath and North East Somerset Council. The Bath Corporation had assumed responsibility for both cemeteries in 1947.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Beckford's Tower, with attached wall and railings (1394133)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic England. "Lansdown Cemetery and Beckford's Tower (1000563)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Beckford and the Slave Trade" (PDF).
  4. ↑ "Beckford's Tower homepage". Beckford's Tower and Museum. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  5. ↑ Forsyth 2003, pp. 271–272.
  6. ↑ Historic England. "Archway, Lansdown Crescent (1394110)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Crathorne 1998, pp. 144–147.
  8. 1 2 Benjamin 1910, p. 324.
  9. ↑ Millington 2002, p. 7.
  10. ↑ Millington 2002, p. 8.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Haddon 1982, p. 179.
  12. ↑ Millington 2002, p. 9.
  13. ↑ "Beckford Tower" . Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette. 28 February 1931. Retrieved 21 February 2016– via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ↑ "Fire Destroys Cemetery Chapel" . Western Gazette. 6 March 1931. Retrieved 21 February 2016– via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ↑ "Beckford Tower" . Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette. 2 July 1932. Retrieved 21 February 2016– via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ↑ "Beckford Tower" . Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette. 9 May 1931. Retrieved 21 February 2016– via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ↑ Historic England. "Beckford's Tower, with attached wall and railings (1394133)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  18. ↑ Millington 2002, p. 10.
  19. ↑ Historic England. "Beckford's Tower (203819)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  20. ↑ "The Beckford Tower Trust, registered charity no. 272986". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  21. ↑ Millington 2002, p. 13.
  22. ↑ Jenkins 2005, p. 138.
  23. 1 2 "Heritage at Risk 2019". Historic England. 17 October 2019. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  24. ↑ "Beckford's Tower". Landmark Trust. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  25. ↑ Abbott, Janey (17 October 2019). "'At Risk' Beckford's Tower announces fundraising challenge". Bath Preservation Trust. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  26. ↑ Mills, Richard (30 December 2019). "'At risk' tower in Bath receives six-figure windfall". somersetlive. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  27. ↑ "Bath Preservation Trust acquires Beckford's Tower paddocks and grotto". Bath Echo. 22 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  28. ↑ McGuckin, Imogen (28 September 2022). "'At risk' Bath landmark Beckford's Tower will cost millions to save". SomersetLive. Reach. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  29. 1 2 3 Forsyth 2003, p. 271.
  30. ↑ Haddon 1982, pp. 178–180.
  31. ↑ Haddon 1982, pp. 178–179.
  32. ↑ "Beckford's Ride, Bath, England". Parks & Gardens UK. Parks and Gardens Data Services Ltd. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  33. ↑ Mowl & Mako 2010, pp. 159–161.
  34. ↑ Bond 1998, p. 109.
  35. ↑ Historic England. "Beckford's Gate (1394132)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  36. ↑ Ostergard 2001, p. 275.
  37. ↑ Forsyth 2003, p. 272.
  38. ↑ Historic England. "Walls enclosing nursery gardens (N and E sides) and ride to Beckford's Gate (1394472)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  39. ↑ Historic England. "Lansdown Cemetery and Beckford's Tower (1086894)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  40. ↑ "Appendix 1: Ensleigh, Bath" (PDF). Bath and North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  41. ↑ "Frances Elizabeth Clarke (1854 - 1943)". Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Ulster History Circle. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  42. ↑ "Lansdown Cemetery". Bath and North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  43. ↑ Frost, Amy (November 2008). "Cabinet Returns to Beckford's Tower" (PDF). The Furniture History Society Newsletter. 172: 1–3.
  44. ↑ "Beckford cabinet is 'fine example'". BBC. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  45. ↑ "Beckford's Tower and Museum". ArtFund. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.