Severndroog Castle
Shooters Hill
Severndroog Castle is a brick built battlemented tower, 60 feet in height and built on three storys. It is triangular
in shape with hexagonal turrets at each corner. It was designed in the Gothic style by architect Richard Jupp.
The castle was built in 1784 by Lady James of Eltham as a memorial to her husband, Sir William James who
died in 1783. Sir Williams is a rags-to-riches story. He rose from being a humble ploughboy from west Wales,
who ran away to sea, to being the Commodore of the East India Company Fleet. He was also a Director of the
East India Company, a Master of Trinity House and Governor of the Royal Hospital Greenwich. He made his
fortune as a bold captain from prize money when fighting a French fleet off India. Severndroog Castle was
named by Lady James to commemorate Sir William’s most famous exploit when, in1755, he destroyed the
fleet and stronghold of pirates at Severndroog Island on the Malabar coast of India.
Severndroog Castle is a nationally listed Grade II* building at present on the English Heritage At Risk register.
The castle remained in the James family for many years. In 1922 Severndroog Castle and the surrounding
woodland was bought by the London County Council for the use of Londoners “in perpetuity” as a “lung for
London”. The GLC took over the ownership in1965 and maintained public access to the castle. They also
maintained the small teashop on the ground floor of the castle which had become enormously popular in the
post war years. With the demise of the GLC in 1986, ownership of the castle and woods passed to the LB of
Greenwich. They decided that they did not have the resources to maintain the castle and tearoom.
The castle was closed and boarded up in 1988. Since then it has been subject to vandalism and decay.
The LB of Greenwich now wishes to dispose of the castle and are looking to lease the building.
The Severndroog Castle Building Preservation Trust was set up by local people in 2002 with the help of Awards
for All funding and the Architectural Heritage Fund.
The SCBPT has been working with the local community to secure funding to restore Severndroog Castle.
The Trust aims once again to ensure full public access to Severndroog and is working with architects to design
a multifunctional, secure building with a viable future at the heart of the community. Future uses under SCBPT
management could include; hire for weddings, receptions and meetings, a woodland interpretation centre,
an exhibition on the history of the castle, a franchised café/tearoom, and a viewing platform for the magnificent
views over London.
Severndroog Castle is situated in a clearing in old woods near the summit of Shooters Hill in London SE18.
It is close to Oxleas Wood SSSI and its woodland location makes it an ideal site for a wide variety of educational and
heritage activities. The viewing area on the roof of Severndroog is 30ft higher than the cross on St. Paul’s cathedral,
offering stunning views across London and beyond.
Here's a much better website dedicated to Severndroog Castle:
People passing by a certain spot on Shooters Hill in the 1830’s reported hearing strange sounds and also occasionally seeing the
figure of a woman dressed in white, who was seen gliding around the area. Although the reports were numerous they were not
believed at the time. However, in January, 1844, a labourer working in the allegedly haunted area unearthed a skeleton and it
was thought that from the terrible fracture to her skull that she had been the victim of foul play. She had obviously not been dead
for very long because there was still a large amount of braided hair attached to her skull. There was no means of identifying the
skeleton and the remains were buried in the local churchyard. It was in 1881 that there was thought to be a connection between
he White Lady and the Old Bull Hotel, which stood not far from the site of the hauntings. When the Bull was being demolished an
old pistol was found in the cellars and it is thought that the damage to the White Lady’s skull was caused by the butt of the pistol.
People passing by the haunted spot can still hear the poor woman’s last cries for help as she was viciously attacked and left to die.
