Day 125 - Through the mists of time

Work day today, so I'm going to take you back to the weekend when Lady Jane was visiting. After our walk to Upper and Lower Slaughter, we drove to the Broadway Tower. By car, the tower is approached down a lane with signs warning of "mud on road." We had more to worry about with the fog that seemed to be approaching like a think wall off the escarpment on which the tower sites.

Broadway Tower looms in the fog. The stone
to the left is the spot where five RAF men
died when their plane crashed in similarly
foggy conditions.

Definitely, there wasn't going to be much to see from the tower today. But, as we'd driven this far, we decided to pay the 5 pounds to go inside. Phil wrote a bit about the tower back on day 106 when we visited the grounds while hiking with Alex.

The lowest level of the tower is a gift shop. On the next level, we learned of the plane crash during the Second World War that killed five RAF members, including two Canadians. The pilot had become disoriented in the fog and crashed into the top of the hill. On the day like today, we could see how that could happen. The gunner had been the only one still alive when the plane crashed and the occupants of the tower tried unsuccessfully to save him.

Inside Broadway Tower.
Source: broadway-cotswolds.co.uk

The tower was built in 1798 and sits on the second highest point of the Cotswolds. In 1827 Sir Thomas Philipps bought the Tower. Here he kept a printing press and his collection of more than 60,000 manuscripts and printed books (he was trying to amass one copy of every book in the world).

In the late 19th Century, the tower was rented by Sir Edward Burn-Jones and William Morris, both connected with the Arts and Craft Movement. Morris mounted expeditions in Broadway Tower of his famous textile designs.

"Strawberry Thief" design by William Morris.

Inspired by the tower and other ancient buildings, William Morris went on to found the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1877.