Comment

MOVING STORY: Adrian Tinniswood with Peter Pearce at the topping out of Clavell Tower at Kimmeridge Bay

A PURBECK landmark which inspired generations of writers has been saved from ruin on a crumbling cliff edge.

Clavell Tower, which provided crime writer PD James with the inspiration for The Black Tower and was one of the places Thomas Hardy courted his first love, Eliza Nicholl, was moved brick by brick from its precarious perch on a cliff at Kimmeridge Bay.

The 18-month £898,000 project saw the 178-year-old World Heritage Site landmark painstakingly dismantled by specialist builders.

Each of the 16,272 stones was numbered and the tower rebuilt 25 metres inland.

This conservation feat, co-ordinated by The Landmark Trust, is now reaching completion.

The placing of the highest stone was celebrated with a "topping out" ceremony on Monday, conducted by trust director Peter Pearce and Adrian Tinniswood, chair of the South West Committee for the Heritage Lottery Fund, which gave a £436,700 grant to the project.

Mr Pearce said: "Clavell Tower is so important because of its role as a punctuation mark on one of the best loved landscapes in the south of England.

"This building, if lost, would have been like losing the jewel in the eye of the Buddha - it is a critical focus in the view which is hugely important to thousands of people who walk along the coast path and have seen it deteriorate.

"It's immensely important to save it."

The Rev John Richards Clavell built the tower in 1830 as an observatory and folly with four storeys, including a basement, and a distinctive Tuscan colonnade.

It was used by coastguards in the later 19th and early 20th centuries, but fell into disuse and was gutted by fire in the 1930s.

Building preservation charity The Landmark Trust, leaseholder of the tower, launched an emergency appeal in 2004 to raise money to save it, backed by author PD James.

Once restored, the grade II listed monument, also known as the Tower of the Winds, will be let out for holidays, helping to finance its upkeep. Bookings will be taken from next month, and the tower is scheduled to open in September.

4:02pm Wednesday 12th March 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login