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The Great Britain Guide

National parks · East of England

Beccles bell tower

Free admission

Beccles bell tower is a free-standing Grade I listed edifice associated with the adjacent St. Michael's Church in the market town of Beccles, Suffolk, England. It stands near the edge of a cliff overl

Milestone, Beccles - geograph.org.uk - 7437090

N Chadwick — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
4 h–8 h
Best time of year
Spring – autumn (Apr–Oct)
  • Free entry
  • Family-friendly
  • Dog-friendly

About

Beccles bell tower is a free-standing Grade I listed edifice associated with the adjacent St. Michael's Church in the market town of Beccles, Suffolk, England. It stands near the edge of a cliff overlooking the River Waveney, the bell tower rises an additional 97 feet (29.6 m) and is thirty feet square (9m) at its base. It dominates the town as well as the surrounding countryside, much of which is comprised by The Broads National Park. Views of the Waveney, the North Sea on the eastern horizon, and the flat terrain of the broads extending south into Suffolk and, across the river, into nearby Norfolk, can be obtained by scaling the 122 steps to the top of the tower.

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From the Wikipedia article

Beccles bell tower is a free-standing Grade I listed edifice associated with the adjacent St. Michael's Church in the market town of Beccles, Suffolk, England. It stands near the edge of a cliff overlooking the River Waveney, the bell tower rises an additional 97 feet (29.6 m) and is thirty feet square (9m) at its base. It dominates the town as well as the surrounding countryside, much of which is comprised by The Broads National Park. Views of the Waveney, the North Sea on the eastern horizon, and the flat terrain of the broads extending south into Suffolk and, across the river, into nearby Norfolk, can be obtained by scaling the 122 steps to the top of the tower.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

Construction started around 1500, the tower is Perpendicular Gothic in style. The tower is supported by deep foundations, very thick walls faced with Roche Abbey stone (so called because of its use in the now-ruined abbey near Maltby, South Yorkshire), and huge buttresses; there is a newelled staircase at each corner of the tower. It is customary for bell towers (also called campanile) to be built at the western end of a church, the end opposite the altar. However, the site at Beccles, near the edge of a cliff, and the enormous weight of the proposed tower, approximately three thousand tons, dictated that the tower be built to the east of the church as a free-standing structure. Local…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
52.4583, 1.5625
County
Suffolk
District
East Suffolk
Parish
Beccles
Postcode
NR34 9AD
Parliamentary constituency
Lowestoft
Established
1540

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Where is Beccles bell tower?
Beccles bell tower is in Suffolk, East of England, United Kingdom (postcode NR34 9AD), in the parish of Beccles.
When was Beccles bell tower built?
Built or established in 1540.
Is Beccles bell tower free to visit?
Yes, Beccles bell tower is free to enter.
How do I get to Beccles bell tower?
Drivers can navigate to postcode NR34 9AD. It sits within the Lowestoft parliamentary constituency.