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Severndroog Castle is a folly situated in Oxleas Wood, on Shooter's Hill in south-east London in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It was designed by architect Richard Jupp, with the first stone laid on 2 April 1784. It was built to commemorate Commodore Sir William James who, in April 1755, attacked and destroyed the island fortress of Suvarnadurg (then rendered in English: ''Severndroog'') of the Maratha Empire on the western coast of India, between Mumbai and Goa. James died in 1783 and the castle was built as a memorial to him by his widow, Lady James of Eltham. Designated a Grade II * listed building in 1954,〔http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-396423-severndroog-castle-castle-wood-park-elth〕〔 *〕 the Gothic-style castle is 63 feet (19 m) high and triangular in section, with a hexagonal turret at each corner. From its elevated position, it offers views across London, with features in seven different counties visible on a clear day. ==History== The tower was used by General William Roy in his trigonometric survey linking the nearby Royal Greenwich Observatory with the Paris Observatory; a 36-inch theodolite (now in London's Science Museum) was temporarily installed on its roof. This Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) led to the formation of the Ordnance Survey. In 1848, the Royal Engineers used the castle for their survey of London. Following Lady James' death in 1798, the building passed through the hands of various landowners, including John Blades, a former Sheriff of London, a Mr Barlow (ship owner) who built nearby Castle Wood House, and Thomas Jackson (a railway and docks contractor of Eltham Park).〔 In 1922, the tower was purchased by London County Council and it became a local visitor attraction with a ground-floor tearoom serving drinks and cakes. In 1986, when the GLC was abolished, responsibility for Severndroog passed to Greenwich Council. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Severndroog Castle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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