architecture, belvedere, eyecatcher, Folly, garden, landscape, London, public park, Tower

Severndroog Castle, Shooter’s Hill, London

Photo courtesy of the Severndroog Castle Preservation Trust.

If there’s one thing you can guarantee about 18th century towers, it is that they will be described using words and phrases that were just as fashionable as the buildings themselves. A tower will always be ‘lofty’ and it will almost certainly ‘command rich and extensive views’. Severndroog Castle was built in 1784 and early descriptions follow this unwritten rule. The panorama today is even richer than it was when the tower was built, with two centuries of London development on show.