This month saw the anniversary of the
Battle of Edington when King Alfred the Great’s Anglo-Saxons decisively
defeated the Danish army of King Guthrum between the 6th and 12th July in 878, so I
decided to visit King Alfred’s Tower on the National Trust’s Stourhead Estate.
Stourhead is well signposted from the
A303. On reaching the main entrance, signs
for Alfred’s Tower direct you to carry straight on then guide you west along
narrow and potholed country lanes.
Eventually you will see the spacious National Trust car park just over
the hedge in the woods on the northern side of the lane, but be advised to
drive slowly or you may not spot it.
From the car park cross the road and you will see an information board
with Alfred’s Tower standing an easy walk to the west.
King Alfred’s Tower, a 160ft high
brick built folly, stands at the summit of Kingsettle Hill just inside the county of
Somerset and is said to be near the spot where Alfred rallied the Anglo-Saxons before
the Battle of Edington. It was designed
in 1765 by Henry Flitcroft for the banker Henry Hoare II and completed in
1772. Hoare conceived the tower as a
commemoration of the end of the Seven Years War and the accession to the throne
of King George III, as well as a tribute to Alfred the Great.
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| King Alfred's Tower on the National Trust's Stourhead Estate, viewed from the east. |
Approaching the tower from the east,
along a wide straight and level grassed area between the trees, you will see
the carved figure of King Alfred above a commemorative stone tablet. I could not read the words on the tablet with
the naked eye as they have become weatherworn over time, but they read:
ALFRED THE GREAT
AD879 on this Summit
Erected his Standard
Against Danish Invaders
To him We owe The Origin of Juries
The Establishment of a Militia
The Creation of a Naval Force
ALFRED The Light of a Benighted Age
Was a Philosopher and a Christian
The Father of his People
The Founder of the English
MONARCHY and LIBERTY
Presumably Hoare or his stonemason got
the date of the Battle of Edington wrong, but the words are inspiring none the
less.
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| King Alfred's Tower on the National Trust's Stourhead Estate, viewed from the west. |
War in a more modern age intruded upon
the tranquillity of the tower when on the 10th July 1944 a USAAF Noordyun UC64A
Norseman single-engine light transport aircraft hit the top of the tower in
thick fog. The pilot had intended to
land at the nearby wartime airfield of Zeals, but was unable to do so because
of the bad visibility. Tragically the
Norseman crashed just west of the tower on Hillcombe Farm, South Brewham
killing the five Americans on board.
I spent a peaceful and relaxing two
hours under a clear blue sky strolling around the tower and the surrounding
woods. During that time I came across
only a dozen or so people, half of them walking their dogs, all were pleasant
and no one disturbed the calm – even the dogs were silent!
For the drive home I decided to head
west from the car park rather than return the way I came. It was an interesting, to say the least,
drive down Kingsettle Hill. The road was
steep and narrow, and even more badly potholed than before. Several times I had to squeeze into bank or
hedgerow on the approach of oncoming traffic, but the going was firm and
everyone was being considerate – and careful.
Unfortunately I could not take in much of the wonderful scenery as the
twists and turns in the narrow country lanes meant concentrating on what might
be around the next corner!
Back on the B3081, heading for
Wincanton and the A303, I came upon Wincanton Racecourse. It was a race day. If I had started my day out a little earlier
I could have spent the afternoon at the races!
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