Landowner aims to launch group to save historic tower

Paull Holme Tower, which stands in a farmer’s field on the East Coast, has been an object of interest and intrigue for generations, but is secrets were unveiled this month when it opened for public viewing for the first time as part of this year’s Heritage Open Days.

Now Simon Taylor, who owns the land around it, would like to form a group to campaign for the building’s survival.

Mr Taylor says work is urgently needed to repair the roof of the building, which dates back to the 1400s.

He said: “We don’t want to preserve it, we want to save it and make it fit for the public to be able to visit.

“Emergency work is needed in the brick barrel-bolted ceiling because every time it rains it washes away the mortar between the bricks.”

Mr Taylor said he had been staggered by the amount of interest in the tower, which is a grade one listed ancient monument.

“People just kept coming and coming,” he said. “Everybody who came went through the door and said ‘wow’. People in their 70s came in who said they used to play there as kids. There’s clearly a lot of interest in it and we want to form a group to give us presence and a voice.”

The tower, off Thorngumbald Road, Paull, was once the manor home of the Holme family, whose roots in the area can be traced to the 1100s.

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