Tower About 15 Metres West of St Benet's Abbey is a Grade II* listed building in the Cornwall local planning authority area, England. First listed on 6 June 1969. A C15 Tower.
Tower About 15 Metres West of St Benet's Abbey
- WRENN ID
- shifting-minaret-sorrel
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Cornwall
- Constituency
- North Cornwall MP: Ben Maguire (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 6 June 1969
- Type
- Tower
- OS grid reference
- SX 037 636
- Coordinates
- 50.43975, -4.76447
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The tower, located about 15 meters west of St Benet's Abbey, is likely the original west tower of a chapel at the abbey, dating from the 15th century. It is constructed of granite ashlar with granite dressings, and there has been a 19th-century repair using brick.
The tower has a square plan and features a doorway on the west side and a tower arch on the east side that would have led into a nave. The masonry above the tower arch indicates the line of a gable end. A staircase is situated in the northwest corner.
The exterior consists of two remaining stages of what was originally a three-stage tower, with a moulded string course separating the stages. The east side showcases a tall, four-centred tower arch with a double chamfered order and Pevsner A-type piers, along with the line of a gable end above. The upper stage on the east features a single chamfered light and a three-light window with four-centred arched lights, recessed spandrels, and a square hood mould. The north side has staggered lancets for the stair tower, a moulded string course, and an upper 20th-century two-light window, with the upper part rebuilt in brick. The south side also has an upper 20th-century two-light window. The west side contains a four-centred arched doorway that is hollow-chamfered and has a hood mould, along with a window above that also features a four-centred arch and hood mould; this window was originally three-light, with remnants of the mullions and some upper tracery in the Perpendicular style.
Inside, there is a basket-arched doorway to the stair in the northwest corner, which is hollow-chamfered, and a stone newel stair. A plain four-centred arch is present over the west door and the west window. Historical records, such as Lyson's Cornwall, include a print from 1814 that depicts the tower missing its top stage.
Local climate
Tower About 15 Metres West of St Benet's Abbey receives an average of 960 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 74% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 86% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 10 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 91% of listed buildings. Of these, 4 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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