Our Tower: Reconnecting Beckford’s Tower and Landscape For All

What is the Our Tower project?

Our Tower: Reconnecting Beckford’s Tower and Landscape for all aims to connect people with the buildings and landscape created by the bisexual writer, slave owner and collector William Beckford (1760-1840).

In 1826 William Beckford commissioned an extraordinary Tower, he created a garden between his Lansdown Crescent home and the retreat now known as Beckford’s Tower, where he could escape from the city within the natural environment. Many buildings designed within this landscape are now lost or have become detached from each other, yet Beckford’s Tower (Grade I) still stands above the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bath. It is the only museum dedicated to William Beckford in the world.

Beckford’s Tower was added to the National ‘At Risk’ Register in October 2019 and we were delighted to receive confirmation of development funding of up to £422,600 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund a few weeks later.

What will we do?

With funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund we aim to widen access to Beckford’s story by reconnecting the Tower and lost landscape, bringing the story of Beckford’s complex, creative life to a wider contemporary audience through:

New exhibition spaces
A new visitor experience
Better interpreting the story of Beckford including wider exploration of
lesser explored themes of Beckford’s life, including sexuality, exile and connections with slavery
New community programmes and volunteering opportunities
A brand new schools programme
Comprehensive conservation of the Tower
Restoration of Beckford’s currently inaccessible Grotto Tunnel
Conserving the surrounding landscape and creating new footpaths

Fundraising

We have a fundraising target of £58,000 for the development phase of the Our Tower project, which needs to be raised by June 2021, and are grateful to Historic England who have recently confirmed a grant of £10,000, and to the generous individuals and groups who have supported our campaign so far. Donations of any size are gratefully received and can be made by cheque (payable to the Beckford Tower Trust), sent to the Our Tower Project, c/o 1 Royal Crescent, Bath BA1 2LR.

We are now accepting donations by TEXT

Just send this message: OURTOWER to 70085 to donate £10 (Texts cost £10 plus one standard rate message)

The latest news

COVID-19 has had an inevitable impact on our development plans, but we have started to recruit our project team, and you can read about our recent news and developments in our latest newsletter here.

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