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The Storm Tower

Bude, Italy

The Storm Tower

The Storm Tower at Compass Point, Bude–Stratton, Cornwall, England, is an octagonal lookout tower, modelled on the Tower of the Winds in Athens, Greece. It is known locally as the Pepperpot. The tower was built in 1835 on the instructions of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet, to a design by Georg

e Wightwick, as a place from which coastguards could observe ships on the adjacent Atlantic Ocean. Historic England describe it thus: Roughly-dressed stone brought to course with freestone quoins... on plinth with 3 granite steps up to entrance on east side. Entrance has entablature and pediment on freestone pilasters. Each side has slit window with stone sill, those to north-east and north-west blocked. The points of the compass are carved as a frieze in sans-serif below the moulded cornice. Low pyramidal roof with moulded base to cross formerly surmounting tower. Interior has slate floor and brick dressings to slit windows. The current roof is not original. As built, the tower was aligned to magnetic north, but polar drift means this is now seven degrees out. The tower sits on a sandstone and shale cliff that is described as friable and which is subject to erosion, averaging 1 metre...

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