Beckford's Tower: City's historic landmark conservation project begins

Beckford's Tower will undergo conservation work as part of the project, which is set to be completed in 2023

A project to repair and conserve a 195-year-old Grade I listed tower is under way.

An architect and specialist rope team inspected the exterior of Beckford's Tower in Bath to begin the initial stages of the restoration scheme.

New parts of the tower will be brought into use and a museum created inside the building over the next two years.

Bath Preservation Trust has received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the £3.3m project.

The Our Tower scheme will see renewable energy used to illuminate the tower, which was added to Historic England's At Risk Register in 2019.

William Beckford commissioned the tower in 1826 to house his library and art collection

The trust says the tower and landscape will undergo conservation work, the currently inaccessible grotto tunnel will be restored and there will be improved access to the cemetery.

On Tuesday, architect Clive England inspected the wooden viewing platform at the top of the 47m (154ft) neoclassical structure and abseiled off the top to inspect its exterior.

Beckford's Tower was built in 1826 as a retreat for the "colourful and controversial" writer William Beckford, who inherited his father's fortune aged 10 years old, to house his collection of art, books and furniture.

Beckford was born in 1760 and inherited his father's fortune at the age of 10

Bath Preservation Trust acquired the tower in 1993 and carried out extensive repairs, opening the building to the public in 2001.

It said its current fundraising project would restore the "architectural masterpiece" of the tower.

The trust said it would also use the National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to re-examine the way in which it shared some lesser-explored themes of Beckford's life.

This will include Beckford's links to the transatlantic slave trade, his sexuality and "exile" to Europe for 10 years following what the trust described as "the exposure of his relationship with William Courtenay" in 1784.

Work on the tower is scheduled to be completed in winter 2023.