Rhenish Tower
RHENISH TOWER, THE ESPLANADE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1210267
- Date first listed:
- 19-Jul-1950
- List Entry Name:
- Rhenish Tower
- Statutory Address:
- RHENISH TOWER, THE ESPLANADE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-08-05
- Reference:
- IOE01/06353/17
- Rights:
- © Mr Brian R. Screaton. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1210267
- Date first listed:
- 19-Jul-1950
- List Entry Name:
- Rhenish Tower
- Statutory Address 1:
- RHENISH TOWER, THE ESPLANADE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- RHENISH TOWER, THE ESPLANADE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Devon
- District:
- North Devon (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Lynton and Lynmouth
- National Park:
- Exmoor
- National Grid Reference:
- SS7225849666
Details
LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH
SS7149 THE ESPLANADE, Lynmouth
858-1/4/86 (North side)
19/07/50 Rhenish Tower
GV II
Folly, possibly intended as water tower. Mid to late C19, "...
gift of General Rawdon...", badly damaged 1952, rebuilt 1954.
Rubble, some brickwork.
A square tower with battered sides, set directly on the Quay
(qv); at the top are 2 balconies in brickwork, carried on
brick machicolations, plus a small brick turret carrying an
open brazier, and a rubble unit with raked top, over a
doorway. At quay level, on the S side, is a plank entrance
door, and to its right a throughway giving access to the quay,
with an opening to the E, facing the river estuary.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the tower has variously been attributed to
the late C18 and early C19, but there is evidence that it was
not there, for instance, in 1831. Built at first without the
machicolated balconies, these were added, because the tower
was regarded by some as an eyesore. Practically destroyed by
the great 1952 flood, a stone on the tower records: 'Destroyed
August 1952, rebuilt April 1954. Information principally from
Pugsley, 1945 (qv), who refers to an earlier writer (Tugwell,
1863), who seems to have been the first to suggest that the
design was copied from a tower on the Rhine, hence its name.
Tugwell also says that it is '... on the whole, of no great
use...', but now it is seen as an essential 'historic'
landmark for the town.
Included for historical and group value.
(Transactions of the Devonshire Association: Pugsley HW: The
Tower on Lynmouth Pier: Exeter: 1945-: 191).
Listing NGR: SS7225849666
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 376543
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Transactions of the Devonshire Association in Transactions of the Devonshire Association, (1945), 191
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 07-Jun-2026 at 14:04:12.
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