Latitude: 51.2318 / 51°13'54"N
Longitude: -3.831 / 3°49'51"W
OS Eastings: 272258
OS Northings: 149666
OS Grid: SS722496
Mapcode National: GBR L1.2P96
Mapcode Global: VH4M9.K92H
Plus Code: 9C3R65J9+PJ
Entry Name: Rhenish Tower
Listing Date: 19 July 1950
Grade: II
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1210267
English Heritage Legacy ID: 376543
ID on this website: 101210267
Location: Lynmouth, North Devon, EX35
County: Devon
District: North Devon
Civil Parish: Lynton and Lynmouth
Built-Up Area: Lynton
Traditional County: Devon
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Devon
Church of England Parish: Countisbury with Lynmouth St John the Evangelist
Church of England Diocese: Exeter
Tagged with: Tower
LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH
SS7149 THE ESPLANADE, Lynmouth
858-1/4/86 (North side)
19/07/50 Rhenish Tower
GV II
Folly, possibly intended as water tower. Mid to late C19, "...
gift of General Rawdon...", badly damaged 1952, rebuilt 1954.
Rubble, some brickwork.
A square tower with battered sides, set directly on the Quay
(qv); at the top are 2 balconies in brickwork, carried on
brick machicolations, plus a small brick turret carrying an
open brazier, and a rubble unit with raked top, over a
doorway. At quay level, on the S side, is a plank entrance
door, and to its right a throughway giving access to the quay,
with an opening to the E, facing the river estuary.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the tower has variously been attributed to
the late C18 and early C19, but there is evidence that it was
not there, for instance, in 1831. Built at first without the
machicolated balconies, these were added, because the tower
was regarded by some as an eyesore. Practically destroyed by
the great 1952 flood, a stone on the tower records: 'Destroyed
August 1952, rebuilt April 1954. Information principally from
Pugsley, 1945 (qv), who refers to an earlier writer (Tugwell,
1863), who seems to have been the first to suggest that the
design was copied from a tower on the Rhine, hence its name.
Tugwell also says that it is '... on the whole, of no great
use...', but now it is seen as an essential 'historic'
landmark for the town.
Included for historical and group value.
(Transactions of the Devonshire Association: Pugsley HW: The
Tower on Lynmouth Pier: Exeter: 1945-: 191).
Listing NGR: SS7225849666
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