Broadway Tower was built as a folly on the instructions of Sir William George, 6th Earl of Coventry in 1799. Based on a concept by 'Capability' Brown and architectural designs by John Adams and James Wyatt, it was located on Fish Hill above the beautiful country town of Broadway in the Cotswolds of England. In 1818 it passed into the hands of the famous bibliophile Sir Thomas Phillipps who used it to house his Middle Hill printing press. It was later rented out to Mr. Cormell Price, a Senior Master from Haileybury College, and Mr C J Stone, a Barrister from London, as a holiday home for their families and friends who were notable pre Raphaelite thinkers, artists and writers of the time. A famous guest was William Morris, the great socialist thinker, a founder of the arts and crafts movement and the man who inspired the establishment of societies for the preservation of British architecture and buildings. (Continued after photographs) |
