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Elizabethan lookout tower
Set in old and undulating parkland of oaks, sweet chestnuts, cedar and beech trees, Freston Tower was built in the mid-1550s overlooking the broad expanse of the River Orwell estuary.
No one really knows who built the tower or indeed why, but the existing evidence points most closely to a wealthy Ipswich merchant called Thomas Gooding who bought Freston Manor in 1553. It’s crisp brickwork and distinctive blue diapering, however suggests that it was always intended to be an eye catching landmark – perhaps as a lookout tower for Gooding’s ships, or simply as an extravagant folly – making it one of the first recorded examples. It may even have been built with Royal favour in mind to coincide with Queen Elizabeth I’s progress to Ipswich in 1561.
There are no fewer than 26 windows dotted over its six storeys, arranged in careful hierarchy. Intricate brick mullions and imitation stone window surrounds no doubt tested the craftsmen of the day – as they have done more recently for its renovation.
Guest comments
We have enjoyed living vertically for a week – sad to be coming back down to earth