Sway Tower
in Sway, near Lymington, Hampshire.
This folly is a pioneering example of a mass concrete structure built in lifts (i.e. slip-formed), the concrete being rammed into wooden frames. It is believed to be the tallest free-standing unreinforced concrete structure in the world.
Constructed by Andrew Thomas Turton Peterson (1813–1906). See Wikipedia entry for a brief biography.
See here for an excellent account of the building of the tower and the background to its construction.[2]. We learn that in 1875, before work commenced on the main tower, Peterson experimented with a smaller tower in the
grounds of The Towers. He started work on the main tower in 1879. The construction method was entirely new, building from the inside without scaffolding. Wooden shuttering was assembled and bolted to vertical battens, forming moiulds, and the cavities were filled with concrete. Three rows of moulds were used, each 18 in. high. By the time the top mould was filled and rammed, the concrete in the bottom one had set and the shuttering could be removed and placed on top of the other two rows ready for a fresh course. It took two days to raise the form and then two days to fill it. This climbing shuttering used by Peterson was known as ‘Tall’s patent apparatus’.
The floors were made of concrete into formwork. Each floor was supported on a series of iron joists with the ends built into the walls, partly acting as ties. Peterson designed the building and supervised the build himself. Precast concrete blocks were made for the components of the spiral staircase. Construction took seven years.
The structure deteriorated over time, and extensive repairs were carried out in the 1980s.
The tower is Grade II* listed. The small tower, Arnewood Court, the coach house and north and south lodges, Drumduan Farmhouse, the piggeries and Stud Farmhouse, and related concrete boundary walls are grade II listed.
Newspaper Reports
1894 'Travellers to Bournemouth (says the South-Western Gazette) on the new line from Brockenhurst may have noticed on the down side of the line, after passing Sway, a lofty tower soars two miles off, and have wondered who built it and for what purpose. The place is called Arnewood Towers, and, with the house and estate adjoining, belongs to Mr. Peterson, who is wealthy and somewhat eccentric gentleman, who lived for a great many years in India, where he amassed a fortune as a barrister and also acted as judge. The peculiarity about this tower, 230 feet high, and also the surrounding buildings, of which there are many, is that they are all built of one material only, viz., concrete, also that Mr. Peterson, though neither architect nor builder by profession, acted in these capacities himself, and having a passion for building in concrete, erected this lofty tower, another one near which acts as a chimney, a larger house which he inhabited called Arnewood, and numerous walls and outbuildings, all in concrete, with the aid of his bailiff, Mr. Nelson, and the workmen on the estate, but no regular builders, bricklayers, or masons were employed. At the bottom of the tower, in the centre, a vault has been made, which Mr. Peterson intended to be his place of sepulchre when he should depart this life. However, he has since, we believe, altered his mind. Mr. Peterson has lately quitted Arnewood, and taken up his residence at Greenhithe; he has bequeathed the tower to his son-in-law, Colonel Johnson, and Arnewood, with its estate, is to be let. The tower can be ascended to the top by an ingenious outside circular stairway, also made of concrete.'[3]
1906 'REMARKABLE TOWER
The death occurred on Thursday in last week at Wernham Buildings, Gray's Inn, London, of Mr. Andrew Thomas Turton Peterson, who formerly resided at the Towers, Arnewood House. The deceased gentleman, who was in his 93rd year, was a barrister-at-law, and for many years leader of the Calcutta Bar, and also a Judge of the High Court of Calcutta. Of late Mr. Peterson had resided for the greater part of each year at Teneriffe, in the Canary Islands. Mrs. Peterson died in 1889, and their only daughter, who was the wife of Colonel Johnston (late of the Royal Artillery) of Lymington, died in September, 1885. Both are buried in Sway Parish Churchyard. Mrs. F. Powell King, of Wainsford, and Mr. W. St. Clair Johnston, of Drumduan House, are the deceased grand-children. Mr, Peterson will be best remembered by the remarkable tower which he built more than a quarter of a century ago at Hordle, three or four miles to the west of Lymington, which is undoubtedly the most conspicuous landmark in the county. The tower was the culmination of a series of experiments in Portland cement concrete, extending over a long period. In style it is a campanile, to the square of which is incorporated a hexagon, containing a spiral staircase, communicating with the upper storeys. In this there are some 330 stairs, each moulded separately, laid in position, and incorporated in the walls as the building progressed. The lower storey is entered by a remarkably fine Gothic doorway, moulded in concrete. and the upper storeys are lighted by windows of a Gothic style, which are of a red concrete. At a height of 92 feet from the ground the outline is broken by a bold cornice, and the same occurs at the summit, at an altitude of 198 feet. Above this rises an octagonal tower, or observatory surmounted with a roof of smaller size than the main tower, and bringing the total height to 218 feet. The storeys, or rooms, as they may properly be called, are eleven in number and 18 feet square at the base, being larger towards the top, where the walls diminish in thickness. At the base the walls are two feet thick thus making the tower a square of 22 feet on each side, to which on the north side is added the hexagonal staircase. The effect produced is of massive solidity, but of a fine artistic line, which is pleasing and not monotonous to the eve.
The building of the structure was novel, Mr. Peterson being his own architect and builder, both designing and carrying out the work under his own supervision. It was built throughout by local labour. All the frames, moulds, iron, and woodwork were made entirely by local carpenters and blacksmiths, while all the concreting was done by a band of unskilled labourers, whom Mr. Peterson had organised and trained. A great deal of the shingle used in the concrete was brought from the beach at Milford-on-Sea.
Arnewood Towers, which adjoin the Tower, is also built of the same material, as are several farm-houses and buildings on the estate. Visitors are allowed to inspect the tower, and they come from all parts to see the remarkable structure. At the time of building it was generally believed that the tower was built by the deceased gentleman, who was then said to be a spiritualist, as a mausoleum, but after its erection he became a convert to cremation, still retaining the desire that his ashes should be deposited in the vault beneath the tower. The remains of the deceased gentleman were on Monday cremated at Woking, and the ashes brought to Drumduan, which adjoins the tower, in the evening of the same day. They were deposited in the vault beneath the tower on Tuesday afternoon. The vault, which is about 22 feet square, was adorned with evergreens. and a concrete table on which the casket was placed also with evergreens, studded with white chrysanthemums. the work of Mr. W. Jeans, head-gardener at the Towers. The cortege left Drumduan at two o'clock, the ashes being enclosed in a handsome polished oak casket, with brass furniture, surmounted with a brass-plate, upon which was inscribed:- "This cask contains the ashes of Andrew Thomas Turton Peterson; born 8th January, 1814; died 29th November, 1906.” In accordance with the wish of Mr. Peterson the casket was carried to its last resting place by the following four workmen who were associated with him in the building of the tower: —Messrs. S. Gates, H. Hood. J. Buckle, and T. Acland. Following were ....' [4]