Pylon and folly at Painshill

Image: © Marathon Taken: 23 Jun 2019

The house at Painshill was built in 1778 and is situated on a hill. The fame of Painshill is in its grounds, laid out by the Hon. Charles Hamilton, son of the Earl of Abercorn, between 1738 and 1773. He was very thorough in his improvements as he not only built a hermitage, which has now gone, but installed a hermit to go with it. Unsurprisingly, Hamilton went bankrupt as a result of his extravagance. The gardens are now slowly being restored but were in a state of disrepair for many years. Ian Nairn writing for 'The Buildings of England: Surrey' in 1962 said "Now they are sadly neglected, and many of the ornamental structures are going or gone." See https://www.painshill.co.uk/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painshill for more information. Built at the Park’s highest point, the Gothic Tower contains a narrow 99-step circular staircase. Constructed in the late 1750s, Hamilton sometimes called it his “castle”. It appears that he used the Gothic Tower as a gallery to exhibit his collection of antiquities. The Tower first became a residence in the late 19th century. By the 1970s gales had damaged the tower, and the folly was semi-derelict when vandals set fire to it in 1973. It has since been restored and now has a tea room on the first floor.

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