A special Golden Weekend on 16 and 17 May 2015 will mark the 50thanniversary of the Landmark Trust, when 95% of the British population will be within 50 miles of a free open day at 25 Landmarks, including Clavell Tower on the cliffs of Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset.
Since May 1965 over 200 significant buildings have been rescued by the historic buildings charity, many of which could have been lost forever. These survivors, like Clavell Tower, now have a new lease of life as self-catering accommodation and in total they welcome 54,000 guests a year.
Kasia Howard, Engagement Manager at the Landmark Trust said:
“We would love to see local communities at Clavell Tower during the Golden Weekend – people for whom this amazing Landmark is a part of their local scene, and who perhaps knew the building before its restoration. The Golden Weekend will mark the diversity of the nation and be an opportunity to celebrate the diverse settings of our Landmarks, and our range of achievements, in our 50thyear.”
At Clavell, not only will visitors be able to look inside the remarkable tower from 10am-4pm on the Golden Weekend, they will see a striking life-sized cast iron sculpture down on the shoreline created for Landmark’s 50thanniversary by renowned artist Antony Gormley. It is one of five sculptures around the country, collectively called LAND and Antony Gormley’s only solo outdoor installation in the UK in 2015. Clavell was personally chosen by Antony Gormley and the sculpture specially designed and created for the site. All of the LAND sites will have full public access and be free for everyone to enjoy until May 2016, not just on the Golden Weekend.
Antony Gormley said:
“There is an excitement about making a sculpture that can live out here, moulding with the geology of this magnificent Jurassic coastline. Facing the waves and the wind, the rain and snow, in night and day. The sculpture will be like a standing stone, a marker in space and time, linking with a specific place and its history but also looking out towards the horizon, having a conversation with a future that hasn’t yet happened.”
Another highlight will be a “Golden Moment” at 3pm on Saturday 16 May when local musicians across the country will simultaneously perform An Anthem for Landmark at each of the 25 open Landmarks. At Clavell, the Dorset based Freedance Choir will sing the piece. Inspired by the architecture of and stories about the Landmark Trust’s buildings, Kerry Andrew, winner of two British Composer Awards last year, has created the special anthem for the 50th anniversary. Kerry visited Clavell Tower as part of the creative process.
Sammy Hurden will lead the Freedance Choir’s performance of the Anthem at 3pm on 16thMay. Sammy is a singer/songwriter who has enjoyed leading community-based workshops and choirs for many years, often taking song writing and vocal workshops into hospitals, prisons and community centres. As part of this celebration, which is being coordinated by the Counties rural touring scheme Artsreach, the Freedance Choir will also perform a repertoire of locally inspired music, plus a brand new composition by Sammy, again inspired by Clavell Tower and its surroundings, written with the support of Dorset AONB. Joining the Freedance Choir for this very special event are the Ridgeway Singers & Band, led by folk musicians Tim Laycock and Phil Humphries. This newly formed choir will perform a selection of folk songs plus a range of local traditional sea shanties and quarry songs. During the afternoon, Kimmeridge Village Hall Committee will also be serving cream teas, with funds going towards a new children’s playground for the community.
Also during the Golden Weekend, Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Fine Foundation Marine Centre will be open from 10.30 until 17.00 with free entry and a variety of family activities including eco-crabbing, rockpool rambles & arty activities or make use of the famous Kimmeridge Snorkel Trail.
Until 2002 Clavell Tower had stood empty and increasingly derelict since the First World War and was perilously close to the edge of the crumbling cliff by the time the historic buildings charity rescued this well-loved local sentinel. The Landmark Trust dismantled and re-erected the building brick by brick on sounder footings further back from the cliff’s edge, carefully positioned to capture as many of its original site lines within the landscape as possible. Clavell Tower now sleeps up to two people and costs from £428 for 4 nights.
Kerry Andrew concluded:
“I see the Anthem very much as a collaboration between me and the musicians and their buildings, being made up of lots of small fragments that can be ‘built’ into a piece to suit them. I can’t wait to hear the eventual pieces, which will undoubtedly be as different and beautiful as the buildings themselves are.”
