Sir William James captured the
Suvarnadurg fort (Golden fort) on western coast of
India on 12 April 1755, this victory and later other triumphs led to change his rank to director in the
East India company. The tower was used by General
William Roy in his
trigonometric survey linking the nearby
Royal Greenwich Observatory with the
Paris Observatory; a 36-inch (0.91 m)
theodolite (now in
London's Science Museum) was temporarily installed on its roof. This
Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) led to the formation of the
Ordnance Survey. In 1848, the
Royal Engineers used the castle for their survey of London. Following Lady James' death in 1798, the building passed through the hands of various landowners, including John Blades, a former Sheriff of London, a Mr Barlow (ship owner) who built nearby Castle Wood House, and Thomas Jackson (a railway and docks contractor of Eltham Park). In 1922, the tower was purchased by
London County Council and it became a local visitor attraction with a ground-floor tearoom serving refreshments. In 1986, when the GLC was abolished, responsibility for Severndroog passed to
Greenwich Council.
Restoration In 1988, the local council could no longer afford the building's upkeep and it was boarded up. In 2002, a community group, the Severndroog Castle Building Preservation Trust, was established. In 2004, it featured in the
BBC TV series
Restoration (presented by
Griff Rhys Jones,
Ptolemy Dean and
Marianne Suhr) to gain publicity and support to restore the building and open it to the public. The castle is open to public visitors and can be hired, wholly or in part, for private functions. The
Green Chain Walk and
Capital Ring long-distance paths go through
Eltham Common and
Castle Wood and past the castle between
Shooter's Hill and
Eltham. File:2016 London-Shooters Hill, Severndroogh Castle, exterior - 4.jpg|Viewing platform File:2016 London-Shooters Hill, view from Severndroogh Castle - 1.jpg|View towards the northwest File:2016 Severndroog Castle, interior 04.jpg|First floor File:2016 Severndroog Castle, interior 09.jpg|Second floor ==References==