Naze Tower
| Naze Tower | |
 Naze Tower | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TM26492354 |
| Location: | 51°51’52"N, 1°17’18"E |
| Characteristics | |
| Height: | 86 feet |
| Tower shape: | Octagonal |
| History | |
| Built 1720 | |
| Information | |
The Naze Tower stands 86 feet tall, looking out over the North Sea at the start of the open area of the Naze on the coast of Essex. It was built as a navigational tower, a sea mark, to assist ships on this otherwise fairly featureless coast.
The tower is a Grade II* listed building.[1]
Visitors can climb the 111-step spiral staircase to the top of the tower for a 360 degree view of the beach and countryside. The Naze Tower features a museum with exhibits about the tower, the ecology and geology of the Naze, and the coastal erosion problem. The tower also features a private art gallery on six floors with changing exhibits several times a year, and a tea room. The tower is privately owned.
History
The present tower was built in 1720–21 by Trinity House, and was intended to work in conjunction with Walton Hall Tower to guide vessels through the Goldmer Gap.[1] Towers at Naze and at Walton Hall are marked on a map of 1673 by Richard Blome, which in turn was based on a map drawn up in the late 1500s.[2] The present Naze Tower therefore replaced an earlier construction at a similar location. It was of particular benefit to ships using the nearby port of Harwich. Both the current Naze Tower and its predecessor had beacons or lamps lit at the top, providing an early form of lighthouse.[3]
Over the years, the tower has had a variety of uses. In the eighteenth century it was a tea house, operated by the actress and aristocrats' mistress, Martha Reay. It was a lookout during the Napoleonic Wars and again during the Great War of 1914–18. In the Second World War, it was used as a radar station, with its crenellations removed to accommodate a radar dish.[3]
Since 1986, the tower has been in private ownership.[3]
