It is with great delight that we can report Hadlow Tower in Kent is finally on site. It's taken over ten years to get to this stage but we took a massive step forward in February 2011 when the ownership of England's tallest folly was handed over to the Vivat Trust.
In spring Mansell Construction began to put up the scaffold which will encase the Grade I listed building for the next 20 months. By the time summer arrived the scaffold covered the whole tower and work had begun to remove the decaying non porous render from the brickwork. The scaffold also allowed the professional team to get up close to the building for the first time and whilst this inevitably uncovered a few surprises, it highlighted what excellent preparatory work the team had undertaken from the ground.
The tower was built by the architect George Ledwell Taylor, between 1835-8 in Gothic Revival style and remodelled in 1840, and is noted for its use of Roman cement from which all its decorative elements were pre-cast. The sample Roman cement decoration and panels have been applied to the tower and we are awaiting confirmation as to its quality and durability. We have to date welcomed the local primary school, BBC South East and members of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, to the site to see the material in use.
The project is currently on budget and on course for a spring 2013 completion date, although we still need to raise £200,000 to allow the interiors to be completed. With such progress we are now confident that the sum can be raised over the coming months.
