The Turret

The Turret is a free-standing garden house dating from the 16th century, with 18th-century additions in the Gothick style. It is constructed from coursed rubble stone with ashlar dressings and features a hexagonal shape. The building has a plinth mould, a moulded string course, and an embattled parapet adorned with crocketed pinnacles at each angle. The entrance, located on the south face, showcases a depressed-ogee moulded arch supported by slender clustered jamb-shafts with crocketed terminals. Above the entrance is a traceried panel that is divided into two heights.

Inside, the building consists of one stage and includes a semi-circular niche directly opposite the entrance, which has a round head beneath an ogee label. The hexagonal ceiling is ogee-shaped, featuring moulded angle ribs and is painted with shields of arms. Horace Walpole noted the new decoration of shields of arms during his visit to Melbury in 1762. It is important to note that the building is hexagonal, not octagonal.