Brizlee Tower

Brizlee Tower is an ornamental tower built in 1781, possibly designed by John Adam for the first Duke of Northumberland, although the design may also be attributed to the Duke himself. The tower is constructed of ashlar and features a cast-iron fire basket. It has a circular plan with four rectangular projections and consists of six stages, with the lower stage featuring an encircling verandah and the topmost stage having a projecting balcony. The design is in an elaborate Gothick style.

The verandah includes four tripartite entrances with cusped and crocketed arches, situated between projections that have similarly-arched niches flanked by fluted columns. Below the openwork balcony balustrade is an inscribed frieze with geometric and traceried patterns. Beneath the verandah are niches and a panelled door leading to the foot of the stair, which is replicated in stone on the other faces of the tower. The upper stages are divided by fluted and quatrefoil friezes, featuring 1- and 2-light windows, and niches in the projections, some of which have sills supported by fan corbels. Coade stone medallions of the Duke and Duchess are located above the niches on the third stage. The upper balcony, supported by fan corbels, has a pierced quatrefoil balustrade. The top stage features a panelled door under a cusped arch and a crenellated parapet with a large octagonal cup-shaped fire basket.

Inside, there is a stone newel stair illuminated by windows with coved internal splays, and the stairhead ceiling is adorned with radial raised bands.

Brizlee Tower is an important landscape feature, serving as a viewing platform for the Duke's park. This function is highlighted by an inscribed tablet at the lower balcony level, which reads:

Circumspice! Ego omnia ista sum dimensus; Mei sunt ordines, Mea descriptio Multae Etiam istarum arborum Mea manu sunt satae

(Look around! I have measured out all these things; they are my orders, it is my planting; many of these trees have even been planted by my hand).