Lawrence Castle

Lawrence Castle is a memorial tower built in 1788 by Sir Robert Palk of Haldon House to commemorate and celebrate Major-General Stringer Lawrence, who died in 1775. Lawrence was Commander of the British Army in India and a benefactor of Sir Robert Palk, who served as Governor of Madras in 1763.

The tower is constructed of rendered stone rubble and has a triangular plan with corner turrets. It displays Gothic styling and rises to three storeys, with plat bands to each storey and a moulded cornice beneath a castellated parapet. The windows are Gothic in character: the turrets contain glazing bar sashes with switch tracery set in small pointed-arched windows, while the intervening bays have moulded architraves to similar but larger windows. The first-floor windows are tripartite, with small flanking lancets. A pointed-arched doorway with moulded architrave features a switch-tracery overlight set over half-glazed doors.

The interior reflects the Gothic style of the exterior and is noted for high-quality joinery and panelled doors set in moulded architraves, fine neo-classical friezes and cornices with Gothic detailing, and principal first-floor room architraves in the style of Adam. A Coade stone statue of Major-General Stringer Lawrence occupies the ground floor, dressed as a Roman general and set on a pedestal, with boards in praise of his character and achievements on each of the flat walls of the triangle. The first floor, formerly a small ballroom, contains a mahogany floor brought from India which tapers towards the centre; the stone ground-floor floor is similarly constructed. Side rooms feature fine fireplaces, including one on the first floor bearing the Palk crest. An open well staircase with wrought-iron handrail and plaster ornamental ceiling completes the interior.

The tower is also known as Haldon Belvedere and was formerly linked to Haldon House by a roadway. Similar in concept to the earlier tower at Powderham, it was inspired by the triangular tower built for the Duke of Cumberland in Windsor Great Park. The tower is sited on top of Haldon Hill and forms an impressive landmark.