Clavell Tower

50.607460189444 - 2.1298214794444Koordinaten: 50 ° 36 ' 27 " N, 2 ° 7' 47 " W

The Clavell Tower is probably a Folly. He is also known as Clavell Folly or Kimmeridge Tower. The building is also called the Tower of the Winds.

Location

The Clavell Tower was built on a rock wall near Kimmeridge, on the Jurassic Coast of the English Channel, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset on the south coast of England. Kimmeridge is located approximately 6 km south of Wareham, about 4 km south-west of Corfe and 8 km west of Swanage. The Clavell Tower stands on a rock wall, which is known as Hen Cliff.

History

Clavell Tower was built by the Reverend John Richards Clavell of Smedmore House in 1830. He had his name changed by the Reverend John Richards John Richards Clavell when he inherited the land Smedmore in 1817.

The tower is about ten meters high and stands on a rock wall that rises about 100 meters above the sea level. The main tower was built from selected natural stone, the window frames made ​​of bricks. Overall, the tower has three floors, the ground floor is of stone, the first and second floor are made ​​of wood. The ground floor is surrounded by a Tuscan colonnade and the roof and its balustrade are made of Purbeck stone.

There is evidence that there were fireplaces in the Ground floor. This would suggest that an all-year use was the intention. Access to the first and second floor was only possible via a ladder.

The writer Thomas Hardy often took his first love Eliza Nicholl to Clavell Tower. He used an illustration of the building in his work Wessex Poems. The local Coast Guard used the tower as a lookout until the 1930s, when it burned. The desolate state of Clavell Tower was the inspiration for Baroness PD James' novel The Black Tower. The story is about a woman in a wheelchair who was pushed over the edge of the cliffs.

Transfer

The Clavell Tower is owned by the Landmark Trust. The tower above the Kimmeridge Bay was threatened by coastal erosion and had to rush into danger, into the sea. He was transferred from the 5th September 2006, 25 February 2008, at 25 meters inland, away from the crumbling cliffs.

Its 16,272 stones were removed, numbered, photographed and re-assembled by specialized engineers and construction workers. The interior has also been renovated. The cost of the conversion were estimated at approximately £ 900,000.

Tower of the Winds

The question remains: What is the Clavell Tower? A garden shed, an observatory, a belvedere or watchtower? Or just a Folly? The latter has the greatest credibility, since it is built relatively easily and it would certainly have been difficult to live in it. However, it is very charming to look at.

The tower is high and exposed on a cliff, this is a reason for a different name, Tower of the Winds. On the other side of the bay, also lonely and isolated, there is a so-called horse-head pump. Since the late 1950s, oil is pumped out of the cliffs. The largest European onshore oil field is located on Wytch Farm, not far away.