St Michael's Tower, Montacute

St Michael's Tower is a prospect tower or folly located on the top of St Michael's Hill (139 metres above sea level), which is located to the west of the village of Montacute.  It is 15 metres high and there is a 52 step spiral staircase inside it.  It currently has no door and you can climb to the top of the tower but not out onto the roof.

In Saxon times a miraculous black flint Holy Cross was discovered on the hill and taken to Waltham in Essex, where it performed miracles and a church was built to house it (Waltham Abbey). It is now lost.

A Norman called Robert, Count of Mortain, built a castle on top of the hill by 1086.  Robert was the half-brother of William the Conqueror. It was one of only two Somerset castles mentioned in the Domesday Book (the other was Dunster) and it may have been built of stone. The Normans named the hill Mons Acutus (meaning steep hill) and the village of Montacute is named after it. 

In 1086 the castle was briefly and unsuccessfully besieged by the English, who were upset that the castle had been constructed on the site where the holy cross had been found.

In around 1102 a monastery was built at the bottom of the hill and on its eastern side by William, Count of Mortain (Robert's son).  The castle was demolished and a chapel was built on the top of the hill.  Stone from the castle was possibly used to build the monastery.  The chapel on the hill was dedicated to St Michael the Archangel.  Churches and chapels on top of hills are often dedicated to him. 

The Phelip's family purchased the monastery from the Crown after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s and built Montacute House using some of the stone from the monastery.  The chapel survived until c1630.  In 1760 Edward Phelips built an eyecatcher or prospect tower on top of the St Michael's Hill using the local golden coloured Ham stone. There is a Green inscription over the door, the initials KP and the date 1760.

St Michael's Tower is now owned by the National Trust, which acquired Montacute House in 1931.

St Michael's Tower

St Michael's Tower

St Michael's Tower

Looking down from the top of the spiral staircase

Fireplace at the top of the tower

View from the top of the tower

Graffiti at the top of the tower - artistic in its own way

St Michael's Tower, May 2023

Greek inscription over the doorway

Cranmore Tower

Cranmore Tower (grid reference ST 677 450) was built c1863-5 by William Witcombe of Leigh-on Mendip for John Moore Paget of Cranmore Hall as a prospect tower or folly. It was designed by Thomas Wyatt in an Italianate style and stands 45 metres high.  It is located on the top of a 280 metre high hill and is just over a mile to the north east of the village of Cranmore.   

According to Derrick Warren in his book Curious Somerset there is a difference between a folly and a prospect tower: "A folly is an eccentric construction to be seen and commented upon as an object of curiosity or amusement, but seldom has any practical use.  A prospect tower, on the other hand, although its architecture can sometimes be eccentric, has a very practical use - it is to climb and then view the landscape from the top."

Cranmore tower can be seen from some distance away.  However because it is in the middle of a wood you don't appreciate just how tall it is until you get up close to it.  There is a small car park half a mile north north west of the tower just off an unclassified road about halfway between Waterlip and Chantry (grid reference ST 674 458).  The car park is not signposted from the road and is therefore difficult to find.  When we visited in August 2015 someone had helpfully hung some orange plastic ribbons in the trees on either side of the entrance.  Once you have found the car park there is a rough track through the woods, which leads to the tower.  

Cranmore Tower was open to the public during the summer months and had a very lovely café.   On the day we visited there was a choice of over 10 cakes and bakes, all of which looked delicious and which were very reasonably priced. We sat at the tables outside, as we had muddy boots on, having done a 9 mile circular walk around some of the local quarries and it was a warm sunny afternoon. There was also an indoor seating area.  However in 2019 or 2020 the tower changed owners and it is now no longer open to the public.  The exterior of the tower should still be visible from the public footpath, which passes close to the west of the tower.

There are 184 steps to the top - I know because I counted them!  On a clear day from the top of the tower you can see 5 or 6 counties.  The day we visited it was sunny and clear but not as clear as it might sometimes be.  We could see the Bristol Channel in the distance as well as Glastonbury Tor, the Pen Hill Transmitter, Cley Hill near Warminster and Alfred's Tower at Stourhead.   There are 2 balconies - one just over half way up and one at the top.  Access is via an internal wooden staircase.

During the Second World War the tower was used by the Home Guard and the Royal Corps of Signals.  It was sold by the Paget family in 1984 to a local farmer called Donald Beaton.  He restored it but sold it in 1988 to Nick Ridge.  It was bought by members of the Baha'i faith in 1992 and they opened it to the public in 2007.  News items in the Western Daily Press, Daily Telegraph and The Times in spring 2015 said it was up for sale for £850,000.  The price includes an adjacent 3 bedroom cottage, a bunkhouse containing 2 dormitories and some woodland. 

Cranmore Tower

Cranmore Tower

View of the cafe's outdoor seating area from the top of the tower.

The 3 members of our party who stayed down and looked after our rucksacks look very small.

Looking north west from the top of Cranmore Tower

Looking west towards Glastonbury Tor

Looking south east over towards Merehead Quarry

 Looking south towards Alfred's Tower at Stourhead from the top of the tower

RIP Cothelstone Tower

Cothelstone Tower or Beacon (grid reference  ST 190 327) was probably erected on the top of Cothelstone Hill as a folly between 1768 and 1780 by Lady Hillsborough, who was the owner of the Cothelstone estate at the time,  However the date of its creation seems to be in doubt, with other sources saying it was built for Edward Esdaile who built Cothelstone House in c1817-20.  It was 9 metres high and built of rubble stone.  The tower was destroyed a few years before 1919 and all that remains to be seen today are some pieces of masonry on a mound.   The mound itself may be an ancient burial site.  A photo of the tower taken in about 1906 can be seen on the Francis Frith website:
http://www.francisfrith.com/cothelstone/cothelstone-beacon-tower-1906_55781

The lack of definitive information seems surprising for what must have been a prominent monument in the local landscape.   The location today is open access land but presumably was not always so accessible.  Cothelstone House (not to be confused with Cothelstone Manor, which is still standing) was demolished in 1962.

 The sad remains of Cothelstone Tower - looking west towards Will's Neck and Minehead

Looking south east towards the Blackdown Hills

Further Reading:

Somerset Follies by Jonathan Holt.  Published by Akeman Press in 2007

Alfred's Tower, Stourhead Estate

Alfred's Tower is located on the border between Somerset and Wiltshire at the top of a hill at an elevation of 261 metres above sea level.  It is 48 metres high and can be seen for miles around.  It has views over Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset.  It was commissioned by Henry Hoare, creator of the magnificent landscaped gardens at nearby Stourhead in Wiltshire, in 1772 in honour of the achievements of King Alfred.  It is located close to where it is thought Alfred gathered local Wessex men together before fighting and defeating the Danish invaders at Edington in Wiltshire in 878 AD.

The Tower is triangular with circular turrets at each corner.  Between the turrets it is hollow and open to the sky.  There is a staircase in one of the turrets, which has 205 steps leading up to a viewing platform.  It is open to the public at weekends in the summer.

In 1944 an American Air Force plane crashed into the top of the Tower.  The 5 airmen were killed but the Tower survived, although it was damaged.  It was restored in 1986.  The Tower was given to the National Trust as part of the Stourhead Estate in 1946.

Alfred's Tower is the location for the start of the 28 mile long Leland Trail, which runs across Somerset to Ham Hill.

 Statue of Alfred 9 metres up the tower.

Alfred's Tower on a frosty morning in January 2015

Autumn Colours at Stourhead Gardens