Bosworth Park Water Tower Photograph: Peter Elllis
Bosworth Park Water Tower in Market Bosworth is on the Victorian Society’s Top Ten Endangered Buildings list 2025. The Grade II listed building, by architect Thomas Garner, dates from around 1885. The water tower, and the walled garden it stands in, are in urgent need of restoration.
Griff Rhys Jones OBE, Victorian Society President said: ‘Striking and delightful, and deservedly listed, this little wonder is a gem. Surely the owners should recognise the lovely tower as an adornment to their property, just as the original owners did when they built it. Please secure the fabric quickly, and make new plans to re-use this graceful monument again.’
The striking, two-storey water tower at Bosworth Park, nestled within a walled garden beside the former orangery, is both an architectural gem and a relic of Victorian ingenuity. Originally supplying the grand Bosworth Hall with water drawn from natural springs and distributed by gravity, the tower continues to serve the estate – now a hotel. An undated water system plan shows it fed the kitchen offices, stables, wash house, and WC. Though the once-adjacent greenhouses were lost in the late 20th century, the stone garden doorway endures, standing alongside the enduring tower in the kitchen garden enclosure.
Bosworth Park is steeped in history, located near the site of the Battle of Bosworth – the conflict that ended the Plantagenet dynasty and changed English history. The current hall and gardens were commissioned by Charles Tollemache Scott after his marriage to Lady Agnes Tollemache, heiress to the Earls of Dysart of Ham House, Richmond. Following the estate’s purchase, Scott initiated extensive upgrades to the house, park, and surrounding village.
Architect Thomas Garner, of the renowned Bodley & Garner partnership known for ecclesiastical works, led these enhancements. At Bosworth, Garner designed not only additions to the Hall in the fashionable Queen Anne style, but also estate cottages, model farms, and gate lodges. The water tower and walled gardens are confidently attributed to him by the Victorian Society, making them a rare example of his domestic architecture.
Bosworth Hall was sold in 1913 and came under Leicestershire City Council ownership in 1931. It served as a hospital before the wider grounds became a public country park. In the 1980s, the hall was sold again and transformed into a Britannia budget hotel, conference centre, and wedding venue. However, the walled garden complex, including the water tower, remains unused and neglected – reportedly only serving occasional paintball events. Years of disuse and theft of lead flashings have left the lean-to structures deteriorating.
Now listed Grade II, the water tower and walled garden are in urgent need of restoration. Their historical and architectural significance, coupled with their location within a functioning hotel estate, offers great potential. With vision, they could once again serve the community or be sensitively integrated into the hotel’s future – a fitting revival for a remarkable piece of Bosworth’s legacy.
James Hughes, Director, The Victorian Society said: ’This extraordinary structure deserves more than decay. Bosworth’s water tower is not just a relic – it’s a revival waiting to happen.’
The full Top Ten Endangered Buildings list 2025 of Victorian and Edwardian buildings, and the archive of our previous Top Ten lists can be viewed here.
Bosworth Park Water Tower close up. Photograph: Peter Ellis