Tyndale Monument The Tyndale Monument is a tower built on a hill at

North Nibley North Nibley is a village in Gloucestershire, England about northwest of Wotton-under-Edge. Name The village is commonly known as ''Nibley'', but the official name distinguishes it from the village of Nibley, just outside Yate, about away i ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was built in honour of

William Tyndale William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – ) was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his execu ...

, an early translator of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

into English, who was born nearby. It is a Grade II*

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 ...

. The tower was constructed in 1866 and is 111 ft (34 m) tall. It is possible to enter and climb up a spiral staircase composed of 121 steps to the top of the tower. The hill it is on allows a wide range of views, especially looking down to the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

. A nearby

topograph A toposcope, topograph, or orientation table is a kind of graphic display erected at viewing points on hills, mountains or other high places which indicates the direction, and usually the distance, to notable landscape features which can be seen ...

points to some other landmarks visible. The hill on which the monument stands is quite steep. The path follows a rough fairly steep bridleway which is part of the Cotswold Way. The tower itself is surrounded by fencing and has floodlights that light up the tower at night. The stairway has automatic lighting. The

Cotswold Way The Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath, running along the Cotswold Edge escarpment of the Cotswold Hills in England. It was officially inaugurated as a National Trail on 24 May 2007 and several new rights of way have been created. His ...

long-distance footpath passes the foot of the monument, and then descends the hill into North Nibley. The door to the tower is open most of the time for free access to a staircase which takes you to the top. Locally, it is commonly called Nibley Monument rather than its official name. The hill is called Nibley Knoll or Nibley Knob. There is a commemorative plaque on the front of the tower. The text engraved on it reads: :ERECTED A.D. 1866 :IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF :WILLIAM TYNDALE :TRANSLATOR OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE :WHO FIRST CAUSED THE NEW TESTAMENT :TO BE PRINTED IN THE MOTHER TONGUE :OF HIS COUNTRYMEN :BORN NEAR THIS SPOT HE SUFFERED :MARTYRDOM AT VILVORDEN IN :FLANDERS ON OCT 6 1536 The monument is a landmark that can be seen even in places as far as

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, which is over 20 miles away. In the town of Thornbury there is a street called Tyndale View where the tower can be seen from approximately 10 miles away. Further down the

Cotswold Edge The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Juras ...

, at Hawkesbury, is the Somerset Monument, erected in 1846, and the design of the Tyndale tower has features in common with this. In October 2019 protesters from

Extinction Rebellion Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a global environmental movement, with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk o ...

used the monument to display a protest banner.

References

External links

Illustrated London News, November 17th 1866 - Monument opening announcementNorth Nibley website
{{coord, 51, 39, 31.9, N, 2, 22, 21.4, W, scale:10000, display=title Monuments and memorials in Gloucestershire Buildings and structures completed in 1866 Towers in Gloucestershire 1866 establishments in England Grade II* listed buildings in Gloucestershire