Beckford's Tower and Museum

William Beckford (1760-1844) was an extraordinary character who, at the age of nine, became the richest man in England. He spent his wealth on collecting beautiful objects and books and on building magnificent buildings to house them in; his first endevour was Fonthill Abbey, on his family's estate in Wiltshire, but after falling into debt he sold up and moved to Bath in 1822. Once in Bath, he bought three houses on Lansdown Crescent and set about creating a mile-long landscape garden from there to the top of Lansdown Hill which became the setting for Beckford's Tower.