Eyton-on-Severn - the Summerhouse
Seen from the lane. The sides facing outwards are in diapered brickwork and stone; those facing inwards are in two colours of stone.
The Summerhouse at Eyton-on-Severn is the survivor of a pair of banqueting towers built in the garden of Eyton Hall at the turn of the seventeenth century for Sir Francis Newport. It consists of two joined octagons in stone and brick, the smaller containing a spiral staircase. Originally the ground floor with its arches would have been an open loggia; the room above would have been used during banquets and entertainments, perhaps for guests to admire and eat fanciful sweetmeats.
Eyton Hall was destroyed by fire in the eighteenth century. The other tower was included in a georgian house and was lost when that too burned (the house was rebuilt but not the tower).
The eastern tower survived in an increasing state of decay until restored in the 1980s by the Vivat Trust, a small charity that preserves historic buildings by letting them as self-catering holiday accommodation.
I spent a very pleasurable week in the Summerhouse.
Eyton-on-Severn - the Summerhouse
Seen from the lane. The sides facing outwards are in diapered brickwork and stone; those facing inwards are in two colours of stone.
The Summerhouse at Eyton-on-Severn is the survivor of a pair of banqueting towers built in the garden of Eyton Hall at the turn of the seventeenth century for Sir Francis Newport. It consists of two joined octagons in stone and brick, the smaller containing a spiral staircase. Originally the ground floor with its arches would have been an open loggia; the room above would have been used during banquets and entertainments, perhaps for guests to admire and eat fanciful sweetmeats.
Eyton Hall was destroyed by fire in the eighteenth century. The other tower was included in a georgian house and was lost when that too burned (the house was rebuilt but not the tower).
The eastern tower survived in an increasing state of decay until restored in the 1980s by the Vivat Trust, a small charity that preserves historic buildings by letting them as self-catering holiday accommodation.
I spent a very pleasurable week in the Summerhouse.