Saint
The wine thief's Pepperpot
He drank the monks' wine and built them a light.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Medieval octagonal tower on a hilltop
- Legend from
- Medieval records
- Tone
- Curious
A shipwreck, stolen church wine, and a lighthouse built as penance.
On St Catherine's Down stands a medieval lighthouse tower nicknamed the Pepperpot. English Heritage tells its story. A ship carrying wine for the monastery of Livers in Picardy was wrecked in Chale Bay, and local lord Walter de Godeton took casks of it. The Church also pursued him. Wikipedia says a lay court fined him 287½ marks in February 1314, and he was made to build a lighthouse and oratory with a priest to keep a light burning for ships. Only the tower survives, the oldest medieval lighthouse in Britain.