Saving Beckford’s Tower

Forty years ago in 1972 two brave Bath residents took on a challenge that even the National Trust turned down: they purchased a neglected building known as Beckford’s Tower.

With passion, enthusiasm and a great deal of hard work, Leslie and Elizabeth Hilliard rescued Beckford’s Tower and established it as the only museum in the world dedicated to the life and work of William Beckford. Using items from the Hilliard’s archive, this exhibition reveals the highs and lows of rescuing a 120 foot high tower at a time when historic buildings in Bath were being demolished every day.