Place to visit

Rates

Rates: Clavell Tower has been restored by the Landmark Trust, and is now let for holidays. Full details of Clavell Tower and 188 other historical and architecturally important buildings are featured in the Handbook (price £11.50 refundable against a booking) from the Landmark Trust www.landmarktrust.org.uk.

Opening times

Opening times: Available for holidays for up to 2 people throughout the year. 2 Open Days a year. Other visits by appointment. Contact the Landmark Trust for details.

Telephone

01628 825920

Description

Clavell Tower was built in 1830 by Reverend John Richards Clavell of Smedmore as an observatory and folly. It was designed by Robert Vining with four storeys and a distinctive Tuscan colonnade. Also known as the Tower of the Winds, it has a special place in literary history. Thomas Hardy often took his first love, Eliza Nicholl, there and used it as a frontispiece for his Wessex Poems. The Tower was also the inspiration for PD James’ novel, The Black Tower. It was derelict from the 1930s and remained so up until 2007 when it was painstakingly rebuilt 25 metres inland by the Landmark Trust, safeguarding it from the cliff erosion and further neglect.