A Georgian Gothic tower on Shooter's Hill, raised in memory of an East India Company captain
Severndroog Castle is a tall triangular tower standing among the trees on Shooter’s Hill, in Oxleas Wood on the high ground of south-east London. Despite the name it was never a castle but a folly — a three-storey Gothic tower of brick with a hexagonal turret at each corner, rising more than sixty feet above one of the highest points in the capital.
It was built in 1784 by Lady Anne James as a memorial to her late husband, Commodore Sir William James, and designed by the architect Richard Jupp. James had made his name in the service of the East India Company, and the tower is named after his capture in 1755 of the fortress of Suvarnadurg — anglicised as Severndroog — a stronghold on the west coast of India. It is a Grade II*-listed building.
After years of decline the tower was restored by a local trust and reopened. It is now open to visitors on set days, with a tearoom at the foot and a viewing platform at the top; on a clear day the view is said to reach across several counties. The surrounding woods are open access and free to walk all year, and the tower stands a short way uphill from the main road towards Woolwich.
