The Poem

The Poem is a square storeyed tower built in the Neo-Norman style, featuring a lower semi-octagonal apsidal projection to the west. It is constructed from rough-dressed, snecked local stone with sandstone dressings and has slate roofs. The tower is topped with a shallow pyramidal roof and has an arcaded parapet with octagonal turrets at the corners, along with foliated bosses on the lower parapet. There are plain stringcourses on the upper section and a high moulded plinth on the lower section, both of which return around the sides. The tower also has stepped angle buttresses.

The central entrance is round-arched and accessed by three steps, featuring plain bosses on the voussoirs and supported by engaged columns made of red marble, with sandstone shaft rings and stiff-leafed capitals. Above the entrance is a large round-arched window with plate tracery and ringless columns. Below this window is a sandstone band with the decorative lettering: "The Poem." There are similar upper windows on the north and south sides, with a segmentally-arched basement entrance on the south side, which has a wrought iron grille. The apsidal projection has sandstone quoins, a plinth moulding, and a plain cill course on the upper section. The basement level features simple lancets with decorative iron grilles and three large oculi on the upper stage.

Inside, the tower is richly appointed with arcaded niches above the dado level, made from exotic marbles sourced from various parts of the world. These niches contain tablets and marble busts commemorating different family members. The marble cladding once extended above the arcading to the vaulted ceiling, but this has been removed in recent years. The interior also features richly coloured stained glass windows, noted in 1892, and an inlaid marble floor with a dado that includes brass vents for a heating system operated from a basement boiler room.