Mystery
Leith Hill Tower
He raised the hill to a thousand feet, and stayed underneath.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Gothic tower on the hilltop
- Legend from
- Recorded burial, 1772
- Best time
- Clear days for the view
- Tone
- Curious
A man built a tower to make his hill a thousand feet high. Then he had himself buried underneath it.
Leith Hill is the highest point in south-east England, and in 1764–65 Richard Hull of Leith Hill Place built a Gothic tower on top to lift it past a thousand feet. He fitted it out with rooms and spyglasses so visitors could look towards London and the Channel. When he died in 1772 he was buried under the lower room, as he had asked. The tower was then stripped, fell into ruin, and was filled with rubble and sealed. The VCH says a stone in the wall used to record his burial.