Hadlow Tower, near Tonbridge in Kent, is no ordinary home. At 175 feet tall, it towers over the surrounding buildings and landscape and looks like something out of a fairy tale: ornate, with battlements, turrets and topped by a 40-foot-tall lantern.
The Grade II-listed tower – six feet taller than Nelson’s Column – is said to be the tallest tower in the UK.
Today it is all that remains of the former Hadlow Castle, which was transformed from a crumbling tower into a unique vertical home in 2013.
The octagonal tower spans eight floors covering 3,488 square meters, each consisting of a single room – although the first four floors are also open to rooms on one side.
The tower has eight floors, each of which has been converted into a single room (Garry Byles)
There are four bedrooms as well as a cinema room, kitchen, dining room, study, high-level sitting area and roof terrace on the fourth floor. Crucially, there is also an elevator to the first four floors.
For those with a head for heights, the upper floors offer access to a parapet walkway with 360-degree views of the surrounding landscape.
But like all good fairytale towers, Hadlow Tower has a checkered history.
The castle was built at the end of the 18th century by the merchant Walter May. The tower was added around 1838 by his son Walter Barton May, who, as legend has it, wanted to keep a watchful eye on his wife after she left him for a local farmer. When the tower was finished, May decided it wasn’t tall enough and added the 40-foot lantern to create an additional vantage point.
During the Second World War the tower served as a watchtower for the Royal Observer Corps. The building remained privately owned, but was empty after the war and fell into disrepair.
View from the top of the tower (Garry Byles)
In 1951 the actual castle was demolished to save building materials. Thanks to the efforts of local painter Bernard Hailstone, the tower, lodges and courtyard buildings were saved.
Nevertheless, the tower fell into disrepair over the next few decades and was badly damaged in a storm in 1987, with the original lantern becoming so unstable that it had to be demolished.
In 1998 it was placed on the World Monument Fund’s list of 100 most endangered buildings and became the target of an active local campaign to save it. Eventually campaigners joined forces with the Vivat Trust, a charity that preserved historic buildings, and began a major three-year, £4.2 million restoration, funded by English Heritage and the National Lottery Fund.
The tower’s exterior has undergone a facelift, with every detail of the intricate stonework and Gothic stained glass windows carefully removed and replaced. The building was also reinforced with a new steel core, new staircases and an elevator were added, and of course an exact replica of the original lantern was reinstalled at the tower’s crown.
Inside, the interiors were redesigned and the tower was transformed into a modern four-bedroom house. The restoration work was recognized with two English Heritage Angel Awards.
There is a roof terrace on the fourth floor and a parapet walk at the top of the tower (Garry Byles).
The restoration was completed in 2013 and the newly renovated tower was initially used as a holiday let at £1,900 per week, with a visitor center on the ground floor.
But in 2015, Vivat Trust went into liquidation and the future of the tower once again became uncertain.
It was bought for £425,000 in 2017 by banker Christian Tym, who moved in with his family and opened the building to the public on certain days. Less than a year later it was back on the market – this time for £2 million.
When this failed, Hadlow Tower was offered as a competition prize on a website called castlecompetition.co.uk, to the dismay of locals who had fought to save it. According to the Land Registry, it was later put back on the market at a reduced price of £1.6 million and sold in 2020 for £1.23 million.
Now, after five years with the same owners, it is for sale on Fine & Country at its highest price ever: £2.78 million.
When it was last sold as a private home, the property was required to be occasionally opened to the public; today this requirement no longer applies.
“This has been a very exciting and unique home that I have been privileged and proud to own over the past few years,” the owner wrote in the property listing.
“Me and my family really enjoyed our time here, including the peaceful and quiet environment, but my business is increasing [me] Therefore, I think it is time to pass the baton to new stewards who appreciate the uniqueness of this amazing place in such an incredible setting.”
The house covers 3,488 square meters (Garry Byles)
More towers have come onto the market in recent months – although mostly as ambitious restoration projects and never this tall. Last month, for example, a listed Victorian chimney was put up for sale for £300,000, with full planning permission to convert it into an unusual vertical house, similar to Hadlow Tower.
The remains of a black tower in East Yorkshire believed to have inspired Tolkien’s work The two towerswill be auctioned on December 3rd with a guide price of £200,000 to £250,000. And last year a water tower near Newbury with planning permission to be converted into a three-bedroom house was sold at auction with a guide price of £45,000.
However, Hadlow Tower is completely rebuilt – albeit at a much higher cost.
“Once you see the iconic tower with its octagonal exterior, arched windows, ornate moldings and fantastical lantern, you will almost be transported to a fantasy world and may wonder why Rapunzel isn’t looking out an upstairs window,” says Fine & Country.
“If your idea of a home is the ultimate in unique properties, then look no further than the magnificent Hadlow Tower.”
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