The Storm Tower

The Storm Tower stands on a sandstone and shale cliff above the Atlantic at Compass Point in Bude–Stratton, Cornwall. Built in 1835 for Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, it is an octagonal lookout modelled on the Tower of the Winds in Athens and known locally as the Pepperpot. George Wightwick designed the tower so coastguards could watch ships passing on the ocean below. Historic England describe its stonework in detail: roughly-dressed blocks laid to course with freestone quoins on a plinth, three granite steps leading to the east entrance under a pediment. Each side has a narrow slit window with a stone sill, and a carved frieze shows the points of the compass beneath the cornice. The tower’s alignment once pointed to magnetic north, but polar drift has shifted this by seven degrees. Erosion of the friable cliff averages a metre each year, with sudden losses of up to 25 metres possible. In 1881 the tower was moved back from the edge, and in 2023–24 it was dismantled and rebuilt 100 metres inland. Funding came from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, public crowdfunding, Cornwall Council and Bude–Stratton town council, with specialist contractors Sally Strachey Historic Conservation carrying out the work. Since September 1985 the tower has been Grade II listed, protecting it from unauthorised changes. Inside, visitors find a slate floor and brick dressings around the slit windows. The current low pyramidal roof is not the original, which once carried a cross. From the base, views stretch across the Atlantic and along the coast. The cliff’s unstable nature reminds walkers of the forces shaping this stretch of coastline. The tower’s plain stone walls and simple entrance contrast with the intricate compass frieze above. Its modest size belies the long history of observation it once served.