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Question
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What is the history of the Pepperbox of Pepperbox Hill (South of Alderbury)
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Question asked on
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14 March 2003
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Answer
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The Pepperbox is on the brow of Brickworth Down giving wide views to the east and west. It is an octagonal brick tower with a pyramid roof and two floors and was built in 1606 by Gyles Eyre, a local landowner. It can be counted as a folly but may have been used a lookout so that ladies could follow the progress of the hunt, away from the rain and mud. Its name comes from its resemblance to a pepper box or pepper pot, which would have been in use in the 17th and 18th centuries.
In the late 18th and early 19th century it was a haunt of highwaymen, who waited there to rob coaches after they had climbed the hill and the horses were tired. In the Second World War it was used as a lookout post for the local Home Guard. It is in Whiteparish but is more associated with Alderbury, which it overlooks.
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Bibliography
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Alderbury and Whaddon: a Millennium Mosaic of People, Places and Progress, by Alderbury and Whaddon Local History Research Group, 2000, 0 9538004 0 7.
