page_title: King Alfred's Tower
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: King Alfred's Tower / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: The top of Alfred's Tower Of the 3 round corners of this tower only one has a staircase and this is its exit to the roof.
context_page_description: King Alfred's Tower, also known as The Folly of King Alfred the Great or Stourton Tower, is a folly tower. It is in the parish of Brewham in the English county of Somerset, and was built as part of the Stourhead estate and landscape. The tower stands on Kingsettle Hill and belongs to the National Trust. It is designated as a grade I listed building.
  Henry Hoare II planned the tower in the 1760s to commemorate the end of the Seven Years' War against France and the accession of King George III near the location of 'Egbert's Stone' where it is believed that Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, rallied the Saxons in May 878 before the important Battle of Edington. The tower was damaged by a plane in 1944 and restored in the 1980s.
  The 49-metre-high triangular tower has a hollow centre and is climbed by means of a spiral staircase in one of the corner projections. It includes a statue of King Alfred and dedication inscription.
context_section_description: The triangular tower is over 40 metres (131 ft) high with a girth of 51 metres (167 ft). Each of the three corners of the triangular structure has a round projection. The centre of the tower is hollow and to stop birds from entering the space a mesh has been added at roof level. The viewing platform, which has a crenellated parapet and offers a view over the surrounding countryside, is reached by a 205-step spiral staircase at the corner furthest from the entrance.  The brick tower has Chilmark stone dressings and is surmounted by an embattled parapet.
  The 'front' (south-east) face of the tower has a Gothic-arched entrance door, a statue of King Alfred, and a stone panel bearing an inscription (see below). This is the face that most visitors see first when walking from Stourhead garden or from the nearby car park.
caption: The turret above the stair-tower at the top of the tower.
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