Fancy Living In Rapunzel’s Tower?

‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair!’ Standing at 175ft, and with all the turrets and ornate mouldings one would expect of a fairytale tower, it’s easy to imagine an Ocado delivery driver shouting out these words from the grounds of this Kent home – a pile of plastic bags expectantly waiting at his feet for you to hook and hoist them up with your golden locks. Thankfully, for the future owner of the eight storey Hadlow Tower (whoever they may be) there is a lift on hand for all your food shopping and stair climbing needs.

Thought to be the tallest folly in the UK, and tallest Victorian gothic tower in the world, if you were to transplant this Grade I listed tower to Trafalgar Square, it would shadow over Nelson’s Column by a good 6ft. A master of gothic revival with its arched casement windows, exposed beams and brick fireplaces, Hadlow Tower is visible from Bidborough to Sevenoaks a spectre of ages past.

Discover Hadlow Tower

Garry Byles

The History

Founded in the late 18th century, Hadlow Castle (then sans tower) was originally built by local merchant and landowner Walter May in the Romantic Strawberry Hill Gothic style. The surviving heights, however, weren’t implemented until 1838 when – or so legend has it – his son Walton Barton May had grown suspicious. Not of any impending attacks or dodgy locals, but (like the cuckolded old man of a Chaucer farce) of his wife: building the tower (then known as May’s Folly) to keep a close eye on her after she up and left him for a local farmer.

Whether realising the tower wasn’t tall enough for his spying needs, or that it wasn’t large enough to properly assert his waning masculinity, May expanded the structure with an additional 40ft lantern – from whence he presumably spent many an evening crying at the sight of a candle flickering through the windowpane of his rival farmer’s bedroom.

Later repurposed for much more serious spying ventures, the folly was used by the Royal Observer Corps as a watchtower during WWII. But with the war ended, and no more midlife crises to be had within its walls, Hadlow Tower was left empty and deteriorating. In 1951 it was decided that the castle would be demolished and its stone used for building materials. All that was saved, thanks to pleas of local painter Bernard Hailstone, was the tower, lodges and courtyard buildings.

Garry Byles

Despite Hailstone’s best efforts, the tower continued to crumble into disrepair, and was badly damaged by a 1987 storm which destroyed the original lantern so severely that it had to be taken down. Entering the World Monument Fund’s list of top 100 most endangered buildings in 1998, locals gathered together in a campaign to save it.

Joining forces with Vivat Trust, and with funding from English Heritage and National Lottery Fund, the tower underwent a three-year £4.2m restoration, including an exterior face lift, the removal and replacement of original stone work and stained glass windows, a new steel core, new staircases and the blessed four-storey lift – as well as the reinstatement of a replica lantern. Transformed into a modern family home in 2013, it received two English Heritage Angel Awards for its impressive restoration.

Following a brief stint as a holiday let, Vitat Trust was liquidated and the tower was sold on in 2017 – with the condition that it would be occasionally opened to the public. Put back on the market a year later, and then offered up as a competition prize, it eventually sold for £1.23m, with the public no longer permitted entry.

‘This has been a very exciting and unique home that I have been privileged and proud to own for the past few years,’ says the current owner. ‘I and my family have thoroughly enjoyed our time here, including the peaceful and tranquil environment.’

Garry Byles

Climb Up Inside

Inside the eight floors and eight walls of octagonal tower, each room takes up its own storey – with the first four floors boasting additional rooms which jut out the side into the adjoining square tower. Unlike poor Rapunzel – who seems perpetually trapped on the top floor of her tower – Hadlow’s living space spans from ground to clouds, with four bedrooms, a cinema room, kitchen, dining room, study, high level sitting area and fourth floor roof terrace. From the parapet walkway (or the ladder of the two storey lantern if feeling particularly brave), you can enjoy 360 countryside views of hop gardens and apple orchards – or keep an eye out for the nesting falcon. As well as the woodland and grounds owned by Hadlow Tower, residents can also enjoy access to the communal grounds shared by the owners of the six ancillary buildings which were once connected to the castle, offering sweeping lawns, mature trees and a boating lake.

Where Is It?

Sat on Hadlow village high street, the home is located near Tonbridge in Kent and offers an easy commute into central London.

Hadlow Tower is on the market for £2.78m. Find out more at fineandcountry.co.uk