Clavell Tower facts for kids
Clavell Tower, also known as Clavell Folly, is a special old tower built in 1830. It's considered a Grade II listed building, which means it's an important historic place. The tower has a Tuscan style, which is a type of architecture from Italy. You can find it on the famous Jurassic Coast, right on top of Hen Cliff, near Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset, England. Today, it's looked after by the Landmark Trust. In 2006, the tower was carefully moved about 25 meters (82 feet) away from the cliff edge because the land was crumbling.
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History of Clavell Tower
What is Clavell Tower?
Clavell Tower was built around 1830 by Reverend John Richards Clavell. He owned the nearby Smedmore House. He built the tower to be an observatory, a place for looking at the stars or the amazing views. It was also a "folly," which means it was built mainly for decoration and fun, not for a practical purpose like living in it all the time. Reverend John Richards changed his name to John Richards Clavell after he inherited the estate in 1817.
The tower stands about 35 feet (11 meters) tall. It sits on Hen Cliff, which rises about 330 feet (100 meters) above the sea. The main part of the tower is made from carefully chosen stones held together with mortar. The windows are made of brick. Around the ground floor, there's a row of columns called a Tuscan colonnade. The roof has a low stone wall around its edge, called a parapet. Inside, the tower has four floors: a stone ground floor and three wooden floors above it. There's also a shallow stone basement underneath. It seems there were fireplaces on the ground floor, suggesting people might have stayed there sometimes. However, you could only reach the upper floors using a ladder.
Famous Connections
The famous writer Thomas Hardy often visited Clavell Tower with his first love, Eliza Nicholls. He even included a picture of it in his book of poems, Wessex Poems. Later, local Coastguards used the tower as a lookout point until the 1930s. Sadly, it was badly damaged by fire then. The lonely and ruined state of Clavell Tower inspired the crime novelist Baroness P. D. James to write her 1975 book, The Black Tower. The tower was also used as a main filming location for a TV show based on her book in 1985. It even appeared in a music video for the song "Boy Who Cried Wolf" by The Style Council in 1985.
Moving Clavell Tower
Why Was It Moved?
Clavell Tower is owned by The Landmark Trust, a group that looks after historic buildings. The tower was in danger of falling into the sea because the cliff it stood on was eroding, or crumbling away. To save this important building, the Landmark Trust decided to move it 25 meters (82 feet) further inland, away from the dangerous cliff edge.
How Was It Rebuilt?
The plan was to rebuild the tower so people could rent it for holidays. Work began on September 5, 2006. It was a huge job! Each of the tower's 16,272 stones was carefully taken off, numbered, and photographed by engineers and special builders. This way, they knew exactly where each stone belonged. Then, the tower was put back together piece by piece a bit further away from the sea. The inside was also updated to make it a comfortable holiday home. The very last stone was placed on top of the tower on February 25, 2008, in a special ceremony. The project used 298 new carved stones, about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) of pipes and cables, 10 tons of plaster for the walls, 1,344 bags of lime, and about 100 tons of sand!
Visiting Clavell Tower Today
The Landmark Trust hopes that the money earned from people renting the tower for holidays will help pay for its upkeep. The tower can sleep two people. The living room is on the top floor and offers amazing 360-degree views of the coast and countryside around it. The tower was also chosen as a spot for one of five sculptures by artist Antony Gormley to celebrate the Landmark Trust's 50th anniversary.
