Vandalian Tower

Just west of Harting Down is Tower Hill, on which stands the Vandalian Tower, an 18th-century architectural folly built to commemorate the British colony of Vandalia, which quickly disappeared with the spread of America.The tower was originally built in 1774 to celebrate the founding of the American settlement of Vandalia, a proposed British colony that did not grow beyond its initial founders. Because of the American War of Independence, the small colony was abandoned, and although they proposed to become a state called "Westsylvania," the fledgling U.S. government scoffed at the idea and the territory was absorbed by the present states of West Virginia and Kentucky.However, before this colony was incorporated into the new entity now known as the United States, a stone tower was built in the United Kingdom to honor the embryonic settlement. But as might be expected, when the colony failed, the tower was quickly abandoned, perhaps out of embarrassment over an untimely celebration.In the late eighteenth century, while Emma Hamilton lived at Uppark House and maintained a "friendship" with Lord Nelson, she often traveled to the tower in a carriage when she expected Nelson to return from a voyage and, using a telescope, observed the arrival of his ship in the Solent. She spent so much time at the tower that locals nicknamed her "Lady Hamilton's Folly," a name she has kept ever since.Today, the remains of the tower still stand in a wilderness field in Harting Parish. The ruins are behind a fence that protects them from further deterioration, as well as embarrassment.The ruins are located on the grounds of Uppark House, owned by the National Trust. Heading toward Harting Down, south of the village of South Harting, take left road B2141 marked "Chichester" at the foot of the hill. You can park in the National Trust parking lot on the left at the top of the hill and cross B2141 into the field opposite, where the South Downs Way footpath is located. The ruins are clearly visible at the top of the hill and the South Downs Way footpath passes right by them.