Work to save a historic coastal lookout tower has been completed after it was moved inland brick-by-brick to protect it from falling into the water below. 

The 189-year-old coastguard’s tower was relocated 100m over a two-year period to save it from coastal erosion.

The Grade II-listed tower Compass Point Storm Tower – known as the Pepperpot – sits on a clifftop near Bude and looks over the Atlantic.

Work began to move the tower inland from the clifftop in early 2023, and has now been successfully completed. It is the second time the tower has been relocated.

View of Compass Point, Bude, Cornwall, captured yesterday. The relocation of the tower has been completed after a two-year effort to move it brick-by-brick to stop it from falling into the sea

A drone view of tower shows how the historic building has been brought inland from its previous position closer to the cliffside

This photograph shows the building’s previous location by the edge of the cliff and its newer, inland position following two years of work to relocate it

The tower was moved 100m inland in a lengthy project which saw it moved brick-by-brick 

Built from sandstone and shale in 1835, it has saved the lives of countless sailors over the past two centuries.

A coastguard would sit inside during high tides and storms and use a flagpole to alert ships.

The tower was relocated once before in 1881 for the same reason.

The structure, designed by George Wightwick, has eight sides that map the points of a compass to ensure full visibility of the Atlantic.

Bude tower photographed in May 2023 when scaffolding was put up in preparation for its move further inland to protect it from falling into the sea

A map shows initial plans for the relocation of the historic tower

Progress images taken as the work was ongoing show how the historic bricks were moved inland

The tower is closely modelled on the Tower of the Winds in Athens, which is considered to be the first metrological station in the world.

The work was contracted out by Bude-Stratton town council using a Lottery Heritage Fund grant worth £249,362 which was awarded to save the Grade II-listed building.

Speaking to The Times when the work first began, town councillor Peter La Broy said: ‘To get to the point where we would have contractors… ready to start seemed at times unimaginable.

‘At the first meeting about five years ago, when we started to talk about saving our Storm Tower, there was serious doubt that we could even get the project going.’

Sally Strachey Historic Conservation was contracted to carry out the work.

Work ongoing at the site when the tower was being removed brick-by-brick and reconstructed at the new site further inland

A view of the ceiling of the uniquely shaped octagonal tower shows the points of a compass off which the structure was designed

A time capsule at the site reads: ‘The Compass Point Project Time Capsule. 1835, 1881, 2024.’

Pictures taken after the work has been completed shows the previous site of the tower where the leftover markings on the ground can still be seen

This is not the first time the 30ft tower has been taken apart and reassembled.

In 1881, it was shifted away from a cliff edge following a spate of savage weather that saw hundreds of locals killed.

The building is leased on a 500-year term to Cornwall council.

The cliffs of north Cornwall are among the worst-affected by coastal erosion in the UK. 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) says cliffs in the vicinity could retreat by as much as 40m over the next century. 

Locals and tourists often walk by the historic tower which previously sat by the cliff overlooking stunning views of the sea

Engravings at the top of each side of the tower show which direction it is facing

The sandstone and shale building has previously been relocated in the late 1800s in a similar attempt to save it from coastal erosion

Coastal erosion is a growing issue across Britain, with it leading to the demolition of dozens of homes in The Marrams, a picturesque clifftop strip in the town of Hemsby, Norfolk, over recent years.

Parts of Yorkshire and Humber, Suffolk, and East and West Sussex are also significantly affected by coastal erosion.

Everything in the Victorian tower remains its original, apart from the roof. When first built, the tower was aligned to magnetic north but as a result of polar drift, it is now seven degrees out.

It was initially built as a refuge for the coastguard, and was paid for by landowner Sir Thomas Acland.