Freston Tower was given to Landmark through the great generosity of its owner, who wished it to have a secure future and be enjoyed by many. Set in old and undulating parkland of oaks, sweet chestnuts, cedar and beech trees, the tower was built in the mid-1550s overlooking the broad expanse of the River Orwell estuary. We have yet to discover why or by whom it was built, but its most likely builder was a wealthy Ipswich merchant called Thomas Gooding who bought Freston Manor in 1553.

Freston Tower was built both to admire from the outside and to look out from on the inside – there are no fewer than 26 windows dotted over its six storeys, arranged in careful hierarchy. Its crisp brickwork with distinctive blue diapering suggests that it was always intended to perform as an eyecatcher in the landscape. It may also have acted as a lookout tower for Gooding’s returning ships, or simply as an extravagant folly (and if so, one of the earliest in the country). It may even have been built to coincide with Queen Elizabeth’s progress to Ipswich in 1561, when the citizens were warned in advance of Perambulacion [of] liberty by water with the Queen. There shall be two vessells or botes decently furnished to attend upon the Queen’s Majestie so far as the liberty doe extend.’

Just as it did to build, this carefully designed tower demanded the highest standards of craftsmanship to restore. Using early photographs as sources, we re-rendered the brick mullions and window surrounds in imitation of stone, a building material so lacking in East Anglia. We chose to put the sitting-room on the top floor, to take advantage of unrivalled views of the River Orwell and its handsome modern bridge. Did Sir Thomas Gooding go one stage further, as our visitors may, and sit amid the pinnacles to make a banquet house of the roof? We cannot be sure of this either, but it would certainly be in keeping with the bravura of this fine tower.

View our history sheet for this Landmark.

Sleeps: 4