Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Longthorpe Tower

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Type
  
Tower

Condition
  
Intact

Phone
  
+44 370 333 1181

Open tothe public
  
Yes

Materials
  
Stone

Longthorpe Tower

Grid reference
  
grid reference TL16209838

Address
  
Thorpe Rd, Peterborough PE3 6LU, UK

Hours
  
Closed now Sunday10AM–5PMMondayClosedTuesdayClosedWednesdayClosedThursdayClosedFridayClosedSaturday10AM–5PM

Similar
  
John Clare Cottage & Garden, Flag Fen, Sacrewell, Nene Park - Peterborough, The Bull Hotel - Peterborough

Longthorpe tower


Longthorpe Tower is a 14th-century three-storey tower in the village of Longthorpe, famous for its well-preserved set of medieval murals.

Contents

Details

Longthorpe tower is located in the village of Longthorpe, now a residential area of Peterborough in the United Kingdom, about two miles (3 km) to the west of the city centre. At the start of the 14th century, Robert Thorpe built the tower as an extension to an existing fortified manor house.

Thorpe had worked his way to relative wealth through the local Peterborough Abbey, and the tower may have been something of a status symbol.

The tower has three stories, and the first floor was originally designed as living space for Thorpe.

The tower is best known for its English medieval wall paintings, carried out around 1330. The paintings show religious, secular and moral themes and the quality is comparatively good for a provincial work. The paintings were whitewashed over around the time of the Reformation and remained hidden until their rediscovery in the 1940s. Historian Clive Rouse considers that "no comparable scheme...of such completeness and of such early date exists in England".

The property is now owned by English Heritage and is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Monument protected by law.

References

Longthorpe Tower Wikipedia


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