This tower was built in the 19th century as part of St. Cuthbert's Graveyard. Someone was hired to live and work there.
And what was the job? To stand guard against ... grave robbers. Yuck.
That had been a problem since the 1700s, and the walls of the cemetery were raised in an attempt to keep people out. Thefts eventually became so frequent that this tower was built in 1827 to keep an eye on things. It seems that "resurrectionists" would sneak in and do their worst. The pay for the job of night watchman was pretty good - something like 1,000 pounds a month at one point. Since houses went for 3,000 pounds at that stage of 19th century life, it was a pretty good living.
If you like that sort of work.
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