Wellington clock tower

Wellington clock tower
LocationSwanage, Dorset
Coordinates50°36′27″N 1°56′52″W / 50.6075°N 1.9479°W / 50.6075; -1.9479
Built1854
Built forCommissioners for Lighting the West Division of Southwark
Demolished1867
Rebuilt1868
ArchitectArthur Ashpitel
Architectural style(s)Perpendicular Gothic
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameThe Clock Tower
Designated26 June 1952
Reference no.1304394

The Wellington clock tower is a structure that stands on the seafront at Swanage in Dorset, England. It was originally built by the Commissioners for Lighting the West Division of Southwark at the southern end of London Bridge in 1854. It was intended as a memorial to the recently deceased Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, though funds proved insufficient to provide a statue of the man at the top of the tower, as had been originally intended. It housed a clock with four faces that were illuminated from within and a small telegraph office. Within 10 years the structure was overshadowed by the construction of nearby railway structures and became an obstruction to traffic using the bridge. It was disassembled in 1867.

The structure was saved by the Swanage-based contractor George Burt and shipped back to his hometown, without the clock mechanism. He gifted it to fellow contractor Thomas Docwra who erected it in the grounds of his house at Peveril Point. Later owners removed the spire in 1904, though the structure remains a prominent landmark in the town and was granted grade II protection as a listed building in 1952.