United Kingdom observation tower
Beckford's Tower and Museum
You can see 94 km from here, looking west.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 94 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 94 kmFarthest ridgelooking west
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 207Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 233 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 207 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from April to May, in July and in September.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset20%
- Febwest4 min before the sea-level sunset21%
- Marwest6 min before the sea-level sunset25%
- Aprwest6 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Maynorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Junnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset29%
- Julnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Augnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset27%
- Sepwest2 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Octwest4 min before the sea-level sunset24%
- Novsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset19%
- Decsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset18%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Beckford's Tower and Museum.
Architectural folly and museum on Lansdown Hill, just outside Bath, Somerset, England, United Kingdom
Beckford's Tower and Museum is an observation tower in United Kingdom, 233 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 94 km away, looking west.
207 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Pen y Fan (886 m), 90 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from April to May, in July and in September.
Get there and stay
- Going upCheck the opening hours before you go: towers and decks close in bad weather.Official site↗
- Penn Hill CL Sitecampsite · 2.2 km · 12 within 10 km
- Weston Lawnplace to stay · 1.4 km · 141 within 10 km
- Bathnearest town · 3.7 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in BathBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Bristol Airport (BRS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 24 km in a straight lineCar hire at BRS airport (Bristol)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 13other viewpoints within 5 kmProspect Stile and 12 more
- 8named peaks within 5 kmLittle Solsbury Hill, Hanging Hill, Tog Hill and 5 more
- 4marked trails within 3 kmCotswold Way, Bath Skyline Walk, River Avon Trail and 1 more
- 15shelters and huts within 5 km
- 252car parks within 3 km
- 1visitor centres within 5 kmBath Climate Hub
- 243restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 12campsites within 10 kmPenn Hill CL Site, Cleeve Hill Scout Campsite, Bath Marina & Caravan Park and 9 more
- 141places to stay within 10 kmWeston Lawn, Waltons Guest House, No. 15 Great Pulteney and 138 more
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Beckford's Tower and Museum, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas6 mountains within 25 km
Canyonyas1 canyons within 20 km
Cavernyas1 caves within 20 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Beckford's Tower and Museum
United Kingdom
- 66Viewyas Score
- 94 kmFarthest ridge
- 207Peaks in view
- 233 mAltitude
King Alfred's Tower
United Kingdom · 32 km
- 70Viewyas Score
- 111 kmFarthest ridge
- 197Peaks in view
- 263 mAltitude
Cabot Tower
United Kingdom · 17 km
- 62Viewyas Score
- 71 kmFarthest ridge
- 76Peaks in view
- 70 mAltitude
Clifton Observatory, Bristol
United Kingdom · 18 km
- 62Viewyas Score
- 72 kmFarthest ridge
- 105Peaks in view
- 93 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q4878706) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Islandyas, Forestyas, Canyonyas, Cavernyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
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Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit 
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit