Death and drama in Royal Norfolk

A cholera epidemic and the building of the Appleton Tower on the Sandringham Estate tell the story of the toxic relationship between Queen Victoria and Edward VII

Royal and heritage travel

On the edge of the Queen’s Sandringham Estate, looking out to calm North Norfolk farmland and a hazy splash of coast, stands the Appleton Water Tower. A highly unusual holiday rental, it also represents an important chapter in the history of the Royal Family and Victorian Britain.

In 1861, Queen Victoria lost her husband and the love of her life Prince Albert to what doctors decided was typhoid fever - an alarmingly common disease in 19th-century England that was caused by contaminated water.

Albert’s illness began with a family drama. The Royal couple’s eldest son and heir to the throne, 20-year-old Bertie, had begun an unsuitable relationship with a musical hall actress called Nellie Clifden. Horrified, Albert travelled to Cambridge, where Bertie was at university, in order to tackle him about it man to man. The pair went for an ever-lengthening walk in the rain, becoming soaked as Prince Albert attempted and failed to make his son see sense. By the time he returned to Windsor, he felt ill and continued to deteriorate. A diagnosis of typhoid came too late and, three weeks after his Cambridge visit, he died aged just 42 years old.

The Queen held Bertie entirely responsible for Prince Albert’s death. “Oh! That boy - I never can or shall look at him again without a shudder,” she wrote to one of her daughters. Although she financed the purchase of Sandringham House as Bertie’s country residence - perhaps an indication that she didn’t wish him to live near her - she refused to visit him there. The years passed and their relationship remained extremely difficult. In 1871, however, an alarming coincidence occurred. Bertie was struck down by a life-threatening bout of typhoid, the same disease that had killed his father. For two months he lay in a delirious state at Sandringham. His mother, fearing the worst, put the past aside and visited him twice. Daily updates were given to an anxious nation. Bertie’s condition spiralled downwards . He began to rave

The Sandringham Estate (left), photo from Wikimedia Commons. Above: the Appleton Tower, photo from Landmark Trust

and speak in various languages. The Royal doctors were horrified and judged his condition to be without hope. Then, completely unexpectedly and on the 10th anniversary of Prince Albert’s death, the fever broke. 

It seemed like a sign to Queen Victoria. Bertie’s subsequent recovery was celebrated with a packed-to-the-rafters Thanksgiving Service at St Paul’s Cathedral. And Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli rushed to bring in the Public Health Act of 1875, which aimed to get rid of typhoid and other health threats by creating the public services - including clean water, sewage management and refuse collection - that the UK has today.

The Prince of Wales was equally determined to have “pure and wholesome” water for the Sandringham Estate, particularly as a survey had shown the existence of numerous dubious ‘cess pools’ under the house, which were very likely to have been the cause of his infection. Civil engineer James Mansergh, who was to become best known for the scheme that draws Birmingham’s water supply from Welsh valleys, was summoned to Norfolk. And the result was The Appleton Water Tower. 

Looming 60ft into the air from the estate’s highest point, the neo-Byzantine-style tower became an instant iconic Norfolk landmark. Its geometric pattern using different shades of red brick stands bright against a dark background of firs and oaks. Atop is a cast-iron tank which held up to 32,000 gallons of water from a woodland chalk spring a mile and a half away. 

It is no longer in operation, and is rented by the Landmark Trust as a holiday home for up to four people plus dogs. If you stay, your water will arrive from the mains as the whole Royal estate’s has since 1972. But while its designer couldn’t have foreseen its future as a peaceful 21st-century getaway, the tower was certainly meant to be enjoyed. A roof terrace surrounded by an ornamental cast-iron railing is perfect for star gazing under some of the UK’s darkest skies while muntjac deer and hares rustle around below.

The second floor was a viewing room with a 360 degree vista, where guests on shooting weekends exchanged their guns for binoculars and squinted at boats on The Wash, the rectangular bay where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire. Now it’s a spectacular bedsitting room with armchairs by an open fire where you can mull over photographs of tweed-clad Royals. 

Underneath, the caretaker’s quarters have become a second bedroom and there’s a bathroom, shower room and kitchen, all in unshowy, comfortable, functional style. A steep spiral staircase descends to the tower’s base, where foundation stones were laid in 1877 by the Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark and two of her children.

What to do during your stay? Well, the main pleasure is obviously to swan around as official residents of the Sandringham Estate, walking in the woods and visiting St Mary Magdalene church, where the Queen attends Christmas Day service. Kids will also want to climb a replica of the water tower in the new adventure play area.

Then hit the North Norfolk coast. Head to Old Hunstanton - Sunny Hunny - where Edward VII recuperated after his illness, sucking up the salt air on the vast, golden sand beach.

Hunstanton beach. Photo: visitwestnorfolk.com

As for Bertie’s relationship with his mother, it’s too much to say that she came to adore or even appreciate him after almost losing him. In fact, she continued to judge him a fool and refused to allow him to be named as her deputy when he represented her on official business or give him access to government papers. For his part, he continued to smoke heavily, socialise wildly and gamble at baccarat - all the things she disapproved of. No doubt she would have been astonished to see the rather good hand he played as king, particularly in modernising the Armed Forces, following her death at the ripe old age of 81.

Appleton Tower is available to rent with the Landmark Trust (landmarktrust.org.uk). visitnorfolk.co.uk