Cabot Tower is a tower

Tower

A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....

 in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, England, situated in a public park on Brandon Hill

Brandon Hill, Bristol

Brandon Hill, also known as St Brandon's Hill, is a hill close to Bristol city centre, between the districts of Clifton and Hotwells, in south west England....

, between the city centre

Bristol city centre

Bristol city centre is the commercial, cultural and business centre of Bristol, England. It is the area south of the central ring road and north of the Floating Harbour, bounded north by St Pauls and Easton, east by Temple Meads and Redcliffe, and west by Clifton and Canon's Marsh...

, Clifton

Clifton, Bristol

Clifton is a suburb of the City of Bristol in England, and the name of both one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells...

 and Hotwells

Hotwells

Hotwells is a district of the English port city of Bristol. It is located to the south of and below the high ground of Clifton, and directly to the north of the Floating Harbour. The southern entrance to the Avon Gorge, which connects those docks to the sea, lies at the western end of Hotwells. The...

. It was constructed in memory of John Cabot

John Cabot

John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America is commonly held to have been the first European encounter with the continent of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century...

, 400 years after he set sail in the Matthew

Matthew (ship)

The Matthew was a caravel sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America, presumably Newfoundland. After a voyage which had got no further than Iceland, Cabot left again with only one vessel, the Matthew, a small ship , but fast and able. The crew consisted of only 18 people. The...

 from Bristol and landed in what was later to become Canada. The foundation stone was laid on 24 June 1897 and the tower was completed in July 1898. The architect was William Venn Gough

William Venn Gough

William Venn Gough was an architect responsible for a number of prominent buildings in Bristol. His works include the Cabot Tower, Colston's Girls' School, Trinity Road Library, and Port of Bristol Authority Docks Office, now Queen Square House, in Queen Square.From 1872 he had an office at...

 and it was built by Love and Waite of Bristol. It consists of a spiral staircase and two viewing platforms which overlook the city, the higher of which is approximately 334 feet (101.8 m) above sea level.