Monument record 136/3/2 - The Round Tower, Lawton Park

<1> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 110/2, 1839 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

The tithe map depicts a small circular structure within the woodland here. Described as mill lane planation and dove house.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ8255, 1873-1891 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

The Round Tower is depicted and labelled. It is shown with an adjoining building and garden.

<3> Cheshire Gardens Trust, 2011 onwards, Research and Recording Report (Report). SCH6655.

A local resident remembers his grandfather, gamekeeper to the Lawton estate, and his family living in the cottage attached to the Round Tower in 1906. They had no electricity and had to carry drinking water from the Lion´s Head fountain on Mill Lane and washing water up from the lake. By 1994 the Round Tower was reported to be in a “a sorry state, the former house attached to the tower a pile of bricks, and the extensive gardens totally overgrown”.

<4> Lawton Hall Estate, c.2004, Lawton Hall Estate (Web Site). SCH9290.

The estate’s dovecote was built in the late seventeenth century in a Tudor revival style. By the late 1800’s the dovecote had been converted into a residential dwelling for the gamekeeper and his family. The ‘house’ consisted of three floors with a large octagonal room on each. The living room was on the ground floor and the other two were bedrooms. There was a ‘lean to’ constructed on one side which served as a washroom and water was obtained from the well down the hill. A separate workshop was built nearby a little bit later.

<5> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Land Line and Master Map Vector Maps, 14/11/2022 (Maps and Plans). SCH4491.