Esher Tower
Most tourists who visit South-West London have Hampton Court Palace on their bucket list. However, the lesser known Waynflete Tower, once Esher Tower, which I have the pleasure of living near to, is in part the inspiration for the Palace.
Recently, I was lucky enough to interview Penny Rainbow the current owner of Wayneflete Tower and author of “The Tower of Esher”, to find out what it’s been like restoring and living in a 600-year-old Medieval Tower whose previous owners range from a Cardinal, to a wealthy sugar trader and a Hollywood movie star.
Penny explained that because the Tower is closely associated with its most famous and flamboyant resident Cardinal Wolsey and the nearby Hampton Court, it is mistakenly thought to have been built by him. The Tower was in fact built by the Lord High Chancellor, William Waynflete in late medieval times. Whilst living at Esher Tower, Wolsey copied some of Wayneflete’s architectural style into the gatehouse of Hampton Court Palace, when he oversaw the building works. Ironically, when his close relationship with King Henry VIII soured, Wolsey found himself royally retired to the confines of Esher Tower.
From her research, I asked Penny during which period would she have liked to have been present. She thought, when Richard Drake, Francis Drake’s cousin, hosted Queen Elizabeth I at the Tower would have been exciting as it was a huge and elaborate event, planned months in advance. Drake occupied Wayneflete Tower during the time of the Spanish Armada and was paid for housing three Spanish Admirals as prisoners in the Tower for 4 years, instead of sending them to the Tower of London. Interestingly, Penny mentioned her son reportedly felt the presence of the Spanish Admirals, as his bedroom wall bore their inscriptions during imprisonment almost 500 years earlier.
The medieval Tower created an ideal film set for Hollywood horror movies in the 1960’s and 70’s and I asked Penny whether she was scared to live there when she originally bought it, as it had been previously uninhabited for several years. She told me she always had an interest in British history and the rare opportunity of finding a Medieval home to buy was more exciting than frightening, as was the task of its renovation.
Over time, Penny told me, every owner has left their mark on the Tower such as Henry Pelham, the Prime Minister from 1743-1754, who employed William Kent an architect to start a gothic revival on the Tower, elements of which are still present today. Sir Thomas Lynch, a wealthy sugar trader built a house on the hill of the property and tore down the wings of Esher Palace leaving the just the Tower to better the view from his new build. Francis Day, a Hollywood actress of the 1930’s, installed a lift she found on a WWII bomb site and more recently Penny created the grand front entrance to the Tower where previously access was only by a side gate.
During her renovations, Channel 4’s Time Team came to visit in 2005 and I asked her of all their discoveries, which was the most remarkable to her. She said they discovered the original footprint of Esher Palace and with that created a drawing of what it would have looked like. Surrey Archaeological Society also investigated the site and found a silver penny and a Georgian wine bottle in pristine condition from the 1730’s.
Lastly, I asked Penny what she thought William Wayneflete would have made of his home in 2020 and she thought he would be astounded that it had survived 600 years, which she feels is testament to all its subsequent owners. Penny told me how she felt about her home, “I feel honoured and privileged to be the Tower’s current custodian and hope it will remain in my family.”
