The Burton Pynsent Monument on Troy Hill at Burton Pynsent, within the parish of
Curry Rivel
Curry Rivel is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Somerton and east of Taunton in the South Somerset district. The parish has a population of 2,148. The parish includes the hamlet of Burton Pynsent.
History
The ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, England, was built in 1767 and has been designated as a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
Alternative names for the tower, which stands on Troy Hill, a spur of high ground about 700 m north-east of
Burton Pynsent House, include the ''Curry Rivel Column'', ''Pynsent Column'', ''Pynsent Steeple'' or ''Cider Monument''.
The monument, which is clad in
Portland Stone, was designed by
Capability Brown and built by Philip Pear, at a cost of £2,000, for
William Pitt as a monument to
Sir William Pynsent, of the
Pynsent Baronets
The Pynsent Baronetcy, of Erthfont in the County of Wiltshire, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 13 September 1687 for William Pynsent, subsequently Member of Parliament for Devizes. The second Baronet was member of par ...
.
There is a legend that Pynsent was grateful to Pitt for opposing a ten shilling tax on a
hogshead of
cider (
1763 Cider Bill), which would have affected his business, so on his death he left his entire estate to Pitt. However, Pynsent signed his will before the Cider Tax was ever proposed. Pitt certainly opposed the tax, but that was because the legislation would have allowed the Revenue men to enter people's homes to check whether cider was being made, and he believed that an Englishman's home is his castle and no-one should enter uninvited. Pitt then used some of the income from the estate (£3000 ''per annum'') to erect the monument to his benefactor.
In June 1948 it was reported that a heifer climbed the 172 steps to the top of the monument, but was later returned safely to her hillside pasture.
[Milwaukee Journal 15 June 1948]
The tower was restored in the 1990s by the
John Paul Getty Trust and
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
.
See also
*
List of Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset
South Somerset is a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The South Somerset district occupies an area of , stretching from its borders with Devon and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. The district has a populatio ...
*
1763 Cider Bill
References
{{Commons category, Burton Pynsent Monument
Towers completed in 1767
Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset
Monuments and memorials in Somerset
Monumental columns in the United Kingdom
Grade I listed monuments and memorials
Observation towers in the United Kingdom
1767 establishments in England