Explore the fascinating history and architecture of this iconic landmark with Dr Amy Frost, Senior Curator for the Bath Preservation Trust.
You'll learn about Bath Preservation Trust’s holistic approach to the major conservation of the building and landscape. Including successful adaptation to combat the impacts of climate emergency and how consultation informed everything that led to the reinterpretation of a site originally built through the profits of the transatlantic slave trade.
The visit also includes access to the Lantern at the very top of the tower, offering breath-taking views of Bath and the surrounding area.
About Beckford's Tower
Beckford’s Tower is a Grade I listed building and in 2019 was put on the ‘Heritage at Risk’ Register by Historic England. In 2020 Bath Preservation Trust secured a development grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and in 2022 successfully received a grant to embark on a major project to conserve the building, adapt it for sustainable energy use, and better tell the complex story of Beckford’s life, relationships, and complicity in the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved people. It also linked the Tower better with its surrounding landscape and improved access for all.
The project was undertaken in consultation with Bath Preservation Trust Community Advisory Panel, local communities, organisations, residents and academic advisors to encourage multiple voices to be heard. The Museum has been designed to enable displays to change easily as new information and understandings emerge. There is still a lot to be discovered and many other voices and perspectives that have not yet been heard.
Today the Tower is looked after by the charity Bath Preservation Trust. It aims to maintain the Tower, landscape and Museum collection, and to tell the story of the Tower, William Beckford, and his involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.
Accessibility
The Museum is located on the first floor of the Tower building and access is up a flight of stairs. The Tower itself has 154 steps to the Belvedere at the top.
Visitors who are unable to access the Tower itself can explore the collection through digital binoculars tour in the Tower Vault, which is a step-free space.
