Horton Tower

Said to have once been the tallest non-religious building in Britain, Horton's Tower near Chalbury Common is a classic example of a folly - monuments built by rich eccentrics with no obvious purpose.


At 140 feet high (43 metres), as a folly it doesn't come much taller.


This one was built in 1750 by architect and Lord of Horton Manor, Humphrey Sturt, who was also an MP for Dorset (1745 - 1786).

Also known as Sturt's folly, the reasons for its original construction remain unclear, but one theory suggests its owner planned to use the tower as an observatory, stargazing in the night sky.
It may have been a place where Sturt could observe hunting, high up the tower with views for miles around.It's a grand and gothic five storey red brick tower, but over the years it had fallen into a state of disrepair and had become not much more than a shell.

At one time, visitors to the tower could enter it at its base and look through to the tower's top, as all of the floors had long since fallen away.

In recent years, the tower has found a new purpose as a place to house mobile phone signal masts - fixed discreetly to its sides, near the top of the tower - with mobile phone company Vodafone undertaking some restoration work after they received planning permission to attach the masts.

(With thanks to BBC Dorset)