Sevrndroog Castle

[kniteracy]

I've told you about Oxleas Wood yes? If you know me in person, you know that it's among my favourite places on earth and that there have been times when I've visited it three days a week, because I love to take a laptop to the cafe on the top of the hill, look out over the meadow, and write. Well, this is London Open House Weekend, and Saturday I spent all day (and I do mean all day) giving tours of Cecil Sharp House to a hundred people in Camden Town. Saturday night, we had a lovely dinner with pola_bear, mokatiki, their mum and her boyfriend, filceolaire, G and me, to celebrate pola_bear's impending departure for university. Sunday, we had plans for a visit with hrrunka, but when I found out Severndroog Castle would be open and accessible as part of the weekend, we got up early, had a completely bad-for-us breakfast at McDonalds (yes, really) in Charlton, and headed out to Oxleas Wood. There was a really long queue: it's fortunate that London Open House volunteers get badges that allow them and their families priority entry to whatever buildings they visit this weekend!

For the first time we stepped into the castle in the forest, and we climbed up to the very top. The story's better told in pictures, I think.


Photographs of Severndroog Castle

	Exterior of Severndroog Castle, 1 The castle against the sky.
	Severndroog Castle, Ground Floor This is the ground floor of Severndroog Castle, in Oxleas Wood. The building has fallen into disrepair, but according to feasibility studies, is still sound.
	Another view of the ground floor In the 1980s, the building was used as a tea shop.
	Spiral Stairs in Severndroog Castle A single staircase leads to higher floors in the folly. Note the condition of paint on the walls. The stairs are stone and smooth, evenly spaced, and in very good repair.
	First Floor Ceiling in Severndroog Castle Beautiful detail. There is a hole where a chandelier would have gone. This room was used for entertaining, and like others, has two small alcoves (the third alcove is the staircase, of course).
	Window view from the first floor of Severndroog Castle All the windows are shaped like this. The moire pattern you can see is the metal cover that's been attached to stop people getting into the windows.
	Blocked second floor room in Severndroog Castle Here is a view of the blocked-off second floor in Severndroog Castle. The doorway on the right leads to one of the two alcoves, which will be identical to the ones on lower floors. Hm, and I think my lens could use a wipe....
	Almost to the top of Severndroog Castle Here is one of the smaller towers, seen from the stairwell exit at the top of Severndroog Castle. A wooden staircase leads up to the highest turret. As one of the highest places in London, this folly on top of Shooters Hill was used as an observation point during the war.
	View from the top of Severndroog Castle Probably the only thing you can make out is the Millennium Dome, but you can see Blackheath and various other seeable things from here. ;)
	Exterior of Severndroog Castle, 2 Here's a beautiful photo of the castle's exterior from the preservation trust's website.
	Severndroog Castle Exterior, 3 This photograph is from 1965.

There's a lot of effort going into securing funds to turn the building into a showpiece by the 2012 Olympics, since it's the sort of place people would love to put on their 'off-the-beaten-track' tourism lists. They're looking for board members and volunteers. And, hm-- they just happen to note that they're looking for people with marketing experience. We shall see. :)