Freston Tower

“Upon the banks of the beautiful river Orwell has stood for centuries, and still stands, Freston Tower. Every sailor belonging to the port of Ipswich knows it well; every traveller in the county of Suffolk, who has any love for the tranquil in nature, must have noticed, if he has sailed from Ipswich to Harwich, this picturesque object towering above the trees, and looking upon the wildest expanse of water which the river scene affords.” 

Rev Richard Cobbold (1797 – 1877) wrote in the preface to his novel “Freston Tower; or, the early days of Cardinal Wolsey”.

Charles Berners bought Freston Tower Farm in 1795 from Sir Charles Kent at a cost of £6,000. The farm included both the tower and a house close by.

The tower itself, “is built of red brick, is quadrangular in form, and in plan about 10 feet by 12, and is crowned by an open arcaded parapet having a small polygonal finial at each angle. It is six stories high, and has as many rooms, one on each story; the communication therewith being by a winding staircase occupying the east or principal face of the tower.” Samuel Tymms 1856 .

Rev Cobbold, in his novel, promoted the romantic view that the tower was built by Lord de Freston for the education of his only daughter, Ellen. Every room was dedicated for a different time and occupation: 

• the lower room to charity in the reception and relief of the poor: 7 am – 8 am
• the second to tapestry-working:  9 am – 10 am
• the third to music:  10 am – 12 am
• the fourth to painting:  12 noon – 1 pm
• the fifth to literature:  1 pm – 2 pm 
• and the sixth to astronomy, the instruments necessary for which study were fixed upon the turret.

The problem with this fanciful notion is that the architecture seems to belong to a later period than the late 15^th century and there is no evidence of a tower existing at this time in the description of Freston Manor.

Recent dendrochronology investigations by Dr Martin Bridge (2003) on the oak used in the building suggests that oak beams in the lower floors were felled in the winter of 1578 or the spring of 1579 when Freston Manor was in the hands of Thomas Goodynge (c.1500 – 1595),  a wealthy merchant from Ipswich. This suggests that Freston Tower was built around 1579.

It is a beautiful building to look at with its ornate architecture and diapered brickwork. It affords extensive views across the River Orwell and down the river, as far as Levington. One possibility is that Goodynge built the tower to impress Queen Elizabeth on a leg of her proposed “Progress” from Ipswich to Harwich down the river on 26^th August, 1579. Sadly, there is no evidence of an actual visit to Ipswich by the Queen in that year. Plague in Colchester seems to have put the visit off.

As the Tower changed hands it fell into disuse in the 17^th century and by the time John Ogilby drew his map of the area in 1675, it was marked as ‘decayed/ruin’.  Happily, the merchant John Wright seems to have carried out work to the Tower and the house nearby. It remained part of the agricultural landscape for another 150 years.

A Dr. Sutton leased Freston Tower House in 1767 for the treatment of smallpox patients, advertising his services in the Ipswich Journal  as “a most successful Method of Inoculation”. 

Freston Tower became a media sensation when Cobbold’s romantic novel, in 3 volumes, was published in 1849. The novel’s final lines trace the ownership to the Berners family: “Freston Tower passed from the hands of the Goodynges to the Wrights, then to the Thurstons, Tarvers, Foremereaws and others. It is now in the possession of Archdeacon Berners, of Woolverstone Park, on the banks of the Orwell.”

John Berners and William Nesfield capitalised on the romance of Freston Tower. Any visitor to Woolverstone Hall would recognise the story of Ellen, daughter of Lord de Freston and would be enchanted and impressed by the enigmatic tower. With Freston Park incorporated within Woolverstone Park, the 2-mile gravel carriageway from Monkey Lodge, passing under Freston Tower and through the remainder of the deer park, afforded a glorious entrance to Woolverstone Hall. 

“A new and handsome entrance has just been made near the well-known Freston tower, from which the views of the river and the opposite shore are exceedingly striking.” (1861)

“It has an antique, almost weird appearance from the carriage road, and in the gloaming might readily be peopled by busy sprites of a bygone age.” (1867)

The Tower continues to inspire romance and curiosity.

For more information: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1203980?section=official-list-entry

Freston Tower is now owned by the Landmark Trust.

There is more information here: https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/globalassets/3.-images-and-documents-to-keep/history-albums/freston-tower-history-album.pdf

And about the Landmark Trust itself: https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/