The Storm Tower

Summary

The Storm Tower was designed by George Wightwick for Sir Thomas Dyke Acland in 1835 as a coastguard watchtower, refuge and signalling point. Due to the threat of coastal erosion the building was demolished, re-sited and rebuilt in 1881 and 2023-24.

Reasons for Designation

The Storm Tower, Bude, Cornwall is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as an unusual design by George Wightwick of Plymouth, inspired by the ‘Tower of the Winds’ in Athens;
* for its commissioning by the philanthropist Sir Thomas Dyke Acland as part of the mid-C19 development of Bude Haven;
* despite being relocated in the C21, the building retains its historic plan, character and profile, and substantial C19 fabric;

Historic interest:
* for its connection to the work of the Coastguard on the north Cornwall coast, and as an eloquent reminder of the crucial role played by such organisations in saving life at sea since the C19;
* as a prominent landmark attraction which contributed to the rise of tourism in Bude, and in which it continues to factor today;
* as a C21 example of informed conservation addressing the threat of climate change;

Group value:
* with the Grade II-listed Church of St Michael and All Angels, also by Wightwick for Sir Thomas Dyke Acland.

History

Better known as Bude, the port of Bude Haven at the mouth of the River Neet was historically owned by two of Cornwall’s great families: the north side of the river by the Grenvilles of Stowe, and the south side, known as Ebbingford or Efford, by the Arundells of Trerice. The last Baron Arundell died childless in 1768, and the estate was passed through marriage to the Wentworth family and then in 1802 to the Acland family of Killerton in Devon. Sir Thomas Dyke Acland (1787-1871) became heir in 1794, 10th Baronet in 1808, High Sherriff of Devon in 1809, and a Tory MP in 1812 and 1820. Preferring to live at Killerton, Acland rented out Ebbingford Manor but regularly visited Bude staying at the family’s retreat at Joy Cottage beside the Breakwater. From there he pursued business interests in the town, including promoting shipping and trade on the Bude Canal, which had begun operating in 1823, and developing Efford into a fashionable resort to mirror that to the north of the river. In the 1830s, Sir Thomas commissioned the Plymouth architect George Wightwick (1802-1872) to design core elements at Efford, including cottages for visitors and for the coastguard; the refurbishment and extension of Joy Cottage; the Church of St Michael and All Angels, a chapel of ease to the parish church at Stratton; and a coastguard watchtower above the cliffs west of Efford Down.

In the 1830s, the coastguard was under the control of the Board of Customs to protect revenue and suppress smuggling. At Bude Haven, a coastguard station was located next to Joy Cottage to control harbour activity at the mouth of the river. The watchtower was commissioned by Acland from Wightwick in 1835 to overlook potential landings and monitor passing shipping and as a refuge for coastguards on duty outside of their station building. The tower’s construction may have been prompted by the wrecking of the ‘Lanson Castle’ on the Breakwater in October 1834 which Acland saw from the shore; the rescue of shipmate John Marshall by two local men had an impact in the town.

Wightwick’s design for the tower was modelled on the octagonal ‘Tower of the Winds’ in Athens which was constructed in around 50BC as a weather observatory. Wightwick gave his building the name ‘Storm Tower’ by which it remains known today. The inscription of the cardinal and ordinal points on the tower’s eight sides gave the headland the name Compass Point. It is thought that the tower was rendered externally.

Bude’s first lifeboat was established in 1836 with funds from King William IV, and the watchtower increasingly worked in conjunction with the lifeboat, including as a signalling station with the erection of an adjacent flagpole. In around 1852 a rocket-apparatus house was constructed near the coastguard station, and a new lifeboat station was built to the east of Falcon Bridge in 1863.

In February 1881 it was reported in the local press that the Storm Tower was in an unsafe condition due to the cliffs beneath giving way after the winter frosts. That September the tower was demolished and rebuilt slightly inland; the 1905 Ordnance Survey map shows it approximately 21m from the cliff edge. The project was funded by Sir Thomas Acland’s son, the 11th Baronet, also Thomas. The tower was rebuilt on a plinth; a metal cross added to a new concrete roof (the original timber roof had apparently been lost in a fire); some of the stones on the frieze and around the porch may have been replaced; an area of decorative coloured pebbles was added around the base; and it was not re-rendered. The flagstaff was relocated close-by to the north-east of the tower. The Storm Tower was rebuilt seven degrees out of true alignment so it could continue to be seen from the coastguard station below. A general telegraphic system was introduced into the tower in around 1892 so that the watch could easily contact the coastguard; the Storm Tower was apparently one of the first maritime buildings to utilise this technology. The cliffs eroded further in 1885, but did not appear to threaten the tower.

After its rebuilding, the Storm Tower continued to play an important role in the saving of life, but was also important to Bude’s tourism offer due to its association with ancient Greek architecture and as a key attraction at the modern seaside resort. It was later adopted as part of the extended ornamental landscape views of Efford Down House, which the 10th Baronet had built for his daughter Agnes in 1848. The Storm Tower’s prominence as a landscape feature resulted in its depiction in paintings by Charles Henry Branscombe, JHL Ashe and others, and it was also photographed before it was rebuilt by the pioneering mid-C19 company the Thorn family of Bude.

In the C21 the forces of climate change and coastal erosion threatened the Storm Tower once more. In May 2023 a project was begun, supported and partially funded by the local community, to dismantle and relocate the tower away from the cliff edge to ensure its survival as an important landmark on the north Cornwall coast. When the tower was dismantled it was just 6m from the cliff edge. The Storm Tower was rebuilt approximately 120m to the north-east, on the same ridge-line; the 1881 orientation was retained and the flagpole moved to continue its former association with the saving of life. The concrete roof structure was replaced by zinc sheeting on a steel frame, with a new hand-carved sandstone cornice based on the C19 concrete ogee-profile. The relocated Storm Tower was opened on 26 March 2024.

Details

The Storm Tower was designed by George Wightwick for Sir Thomas Dyke Acland in 1835 as a coastguard watchtower, refuge and signalling point. Due to the threat of coastal erosion the building was demolished, re-sited and rebuilt in 1881 and 2023-24.

MATERIALS: the tower is constructed from a yellow elvan from quarries at Trerice, also known as porphyry or ‘Trerice stone’. C21 stone repairs in Whitton Fell Yorkshire sandstone. Internal brick skin with random stone rubble above. Slate floor. C21 steel roof structure on concrete ring beam, with zinc sheet covering. C21 concrete base and plinth.

PLAN: octagonal, approximately 5m across by 7m tall.

EXTERIOR: the Storm Tower is constructed of roughly-dressed snecked yellow elvan stone with dressed elvan stone quoins, with C21 lime mortar. It stands on a plinth of snecked elvan stone with a granite-slab top rising to a stone base around the tower’s walls. On the east (east-north-east) side are two granite ashlar steps up to the entrance portico which has plain pilasters on granite pedestals, with capitals to an entablature and pediment; the stone used here is slightly different and weathered and may have been introduced in 1881. On five sides of the tower, at ground-floor level, is a rectangular slit opening with an elvan stone cill and dressings. At the top of the tower is a frieze carved in sans-serif with the cardinal and ordinal points of the compass; ‘NORTH’ faces approximately north-north-east. Above this a C21 ogee-moulded sandstone cornice rises to a low, pyramidal roof surmounted by an iron cross on a moulded base. The roof structure and covering are C21.

The tower is surrounded by C21 granite slabs and kerbs forming an octagonal paved and stepped area, and the floor around the tower’s plinth is set with black and white sea pebbles forming the cross of St Piran.

INTERIOR: two further granite ashlar steps lead into the tower, which has a slate-slab floor. There is no door to the tower, but its timber architrave survives. The interior is a single double-height space. The five slit openings and two internal recesses (north-east and south-east) have red-brick dressings and segmental-headed relieving arches (some bricks C21 replacements) whilst the walls above and between the openings and within the recesses are uncoursed rubble stone. The openings are unglazed but retain evidence of glazing and pintle hinge. Within the deep reveal of each opening is a dressed-granite seat. At the top of the tower is a C21 concrete ring beam which supports the exposed C21 steel-frame roof structure.

Apart from the roof and plinth, the Storm Tower was reconstructed using as much of the historic (1835 and 1881) fabric as possible, and therefore only principal material interventions introduced in the rebuilding are dated as C21.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

64742

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Beacham, P, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cornwall, (2014), 129

Websites
Heritage Gateway: Cornwall and Scilly Historic Environment Record, accessed 16/04/2025 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCO46297&resourceID=1020
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, tenth baronet, accessed 16/04/2025 from https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/66
RIBAPix: Design for the Storm Tower, a garden building, Bude, for Sir Thomas Dyke Acland: plan, east elevation and section, accessed 16/04/2025 from https://www.ribapix.com/Design-for-the-Storm-Tower-a-garden-building-Bude-for-Sir-Thomas-Dyke-Acland-plan-east-elevation-and-section_RIBA82324?ribasearch=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmliYXBpeC5jb20vc2VhcmNoP3E9YnVkZQ==
Bude-Stratton Town Council: Bude’s Iconic Storm Tower: A journey from peril to preservation (27/03/2024), accessed 16/04/2025 from https://www.bude-stratton.gov.uk/budes-iconic-storm-tower-a-journey-from-peril-to-preservation/

Other
Ordnance Survey, Cornwall (revised 1905, published 1906) (1:2500)
Cornwall Archaeological Unit / Cathy Parkes, Storm Tower, Compass Point, Bude, Cornwall: Heritage Impact Assessment, 2020
Cornwall Archaeological Unit / Jo Sturgess, Storm Tower, Compass Point, Bude, Cornwall: Historic Building Record, 2021
Cornish and Devon Post, 12 February 1881
Cornish and Devon Post, 24 September 1881

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.