How Hill Tower

How Hill Tower stands in Studley Royal Park, a World Heritage Site in North Yorkshire. It is an 18th-century folly built near the ruins of a medieval chapel. The earlier Chapel of Saint Michael de Monte dated from the 13th century and served as a small pilgrimage site. Visitors once climbed to its summit to see York Minster and Ripon Cathedral. The chapel’s floor had mosaic tiles made between 1236 and 1247. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the chapel fell into ruin by 1600. The present tower was commissioned in 1719 by John Aislabie as part of the park’s design. It may have been designed by Sir John Vanbrugh and offered views across the estate and as far as York, 26 miles away. Later the building became farm outbuildings and, by 1822, was called How Hill House & Tower. During the Second World War the Home Guard used it as an observation post. Restoration between 1984 and 2006 returned the tower and attached buildings to use. The limestone and gritstone tower has two storeys with a square plan and a pyramidal roof topped by a cross. A round-headed doorway and inscribed plaque mark its south front. Excavations in 2017 found earlier foundations and mosaic floor tiles from the medieval chapel. Nearby stand the remains of outbuildings, including a three-storey block and smaller structures to the north. The site’s history is recognised in its Grade II* listing.