Waterloo Tower
Visitors to Quex Museum can now follow the 'Three Towers Trail', a self-guided walking tour that takes in the Waterloo Tower, the stableyard Clock Tower and the Round Tower. (No access to the interior of the buildings is possible.) Please ask at the Museum Reception Desk for details. There is a small charge for the tour.
Having rebuilt Quex House, John Powell Powell built the Waterloo Tower in 1818 - another unique feature of Quex. As well as being a fanatical yachtsman and collector of cannon, John Powell Powell was very interested in the English tradition of tower bell ringing and, to this end, added a peal of 12 bells to his new tower, an installation unequalled in Kent at the time. In those days Canterbury Cathedral had only ten bells and did not acquire another two until 1923. The cast-iron spire on top of the the brick-built tower can be seen for many miles. It was made by local craftsmen and is an extraordinary construction for its day. The tower at Quex is a special experience for visiting ringers - a secular tower, approached across a cow pasture with no electricity or modern conveniences!
The bells are still rung today by the Quex Park Society of Change Ringers. They follow a traditional pattern of ringing - the bells being rung in sequences known as 'changes'; a full peal numbers some 5,000 changes and takes up to three and a half hours to complete. These are only rung on very special occasions but the Quex Society, comprising ringers from all over East Kent, practises twice a month and rings quarter peals, lasting about fifty minutes, on a regular basis.
Museum visitors will soon be able to follow the 'Three Towers Trail' which includes the Waterloo Tower. The interior can only be seen on special Heritage Open Days; the 2007 dates remain to be confirmed but should be in early September.
