architecture, belvedere, Folly, Observatory, Surrey, Tower

Leith Hill Tower, near Dorking, Surrey.

The tower on Leith Hill was erected in the 1760s by Richard Hull. The hillside wasn’t actually his property, but h is home was nearby and he leased the plot from the landowners, the Evelyn family of nearby Wotton. It became a popular attraction and in 1790 it was said that the view from the tower was ‘esteemed equal, if not superior, to any in the kingdom’. Hull was so fond of his tower that he designated it as his mausoleum.