Rothley Castle

Rothley Castle is a folly built around 1755 by Daniel Garrett for Sir Walter Blackett. It is constructed of random rubble in a Gothick style and features a canted screen wall that stretches approximately 60 yards along the top of a hill, flanked by square end towers and a larger square central tower.

The central tower is two storeys high and has a tall pointed-arched doorway, with flanking blocked lower arches that form niches. Above the doorway is a cruciform slit, with the arms of the cross designed as mouchettes. The tower has very large, rough, close-set corbels and is roofless, with similar arched niches on each of its other sides.

The screen walls reach about 8 feet in height in some areas, although they are ruinous in others. Five cruciform slits remain visible. The end towers feature pointed-arched niches on three sides and are open on the fourth side towards the inner face of the wall, with similar corbels.

Inside the central tower, there are stone stairs leading to a roof platform. The full-height room behind the arched doorway has two tall screens made of unmoulded square columns on either side.