Object Details

Gibraltar Tower

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Location
Makers
General Information
Classification
Object Parts
Object Condition
History
References
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Location

Street:Tower Street
Town:Heathfield
Parish:Heathfield & Waldron
Council:Wealden District Council
County:East Sussex
Postcode:TN21
Location on Google Map
Object setting:Garden
Access is:Private
Location note:In the grounds of Heathfield Park
In the AZ book:East Sussex
Page:76
Grid reference:E1
The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks.
OS Reference:TQ588214

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Makers

Name : John Crunden
     Role:Designer
Name : Frances Newbury
     Role:Builder
Name : Humphrey Repton
     Role:Landscape Architect

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General Information

Commissioned by: Frances Newbury
Construction period:1792
Installation date:1792
Work is:Extant
Owner custodian:Owners of Heathfield Park
Object listing:Grade II*: particularly important and of more than special interest
Building listing:II*
Description:Ornamental Ashlar, castellated tower of 3 storeys. The ground floor is octagonal and has 8 coved and pointed recesses. The upper portions of the tower are round. The first floor has 4 pointed windows and 4 round recesses containing quatrefoil ornamentation. The top storey has 4 round windows. The interior comprises a circular staircase and 3 rooms originally decorated with views of Gibraltar that have been removed.
Inscription:Above the sealed doorway in metal letters:

CALPES DEFENSORI

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Classification

Categories:Commemorative, Architectural, Military
Object type1:Building
     Object subtype1:Tower
Subject type1:Non-figurative

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Object Parts

Part 1:Tower
     Material:Stone
     Height (cm):1677

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Object Condition

Overall condition:Poor
Risk assessment:At risk

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History

History:The Tower was built by Francis Newbury who also built the Jack Cade memorial in Cade Street. The tower was built as a monument to Brigadier General George Augustus Eliott (25 December 1917 - 6 July 1790) who commanded the Gibraltar Garrison against the siege by France and Spain between 1779 and 1783. He was later created created Lord Heathfield, Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar on 6 July 1787. He died in July 1790 at Schloss Kalkofen, Aachen, Germany of a stroke. Initially buried in the grounds of the Schloss, his body was disinterred and reburied at Heathfield, East Sussex and later disinterred again and reburied at St Andrew's Church, Buckland Monachorum, Devon in the church associated with his wife's (Anne Pollexfen Drake [1726-1772]) Drake ancestry. His son, Francis Augustus Eliott (31 December 1750 - 26 January 1813), became the 2nd and last Baron Heathfield. The house was originally named Bayley Park but was renamed Heathfield Park by Newbury when he bought the house following the death of Baron Heathfield. The metal letters of the inscription above the door of the tower are said to be made from the guns of the Spanish floating batteries, the inscription translates as 'To the defender of Gibraltar'.

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References


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Photographs


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