The Tower can be found in a small copse of wood on a small hill near Brightling village, and is accessible via a footpath.
The Tower is approximately 35 feet (10.6 m) high and 12 feet (3.7 m) and was built for Mad Jack most likely in about 1828 when he bought Bodiam Castle to prevent a Hastings Builder demolishing it for its stone.
The builders may have been the Evesfield family who had sold land to James Burton and his son the architect Decimus Burton to construct St Leonards between 1827AD and 1837AD, and were looking to copy the Burton's success. The Castle would have provided a great deal of stone to be used as building materials.
The Towers original use was probably for signalling between the Bodiam Castle and the Tower to let Mad Jack know about the progression of the restoration, or to request building materials etc, although the view from the top of the tower would have also been spectacular.
The tower originally had 3 wooden floors and steps up to each floor, but in the 1920's its believed that some of the local boys set fire to the wooden parts of the tower, destroying the inside.
It was castellated when constructed but the top of the tower was damaged by falling trees in the 1987 hurricane that hit this area, but the local British Gypsum Company restored some of the tower, made it safe and erected an iron staircase to the top viewing point. This was in use in the early 2000's as I went up the stairs to check the view to the North, but this has now corroded and is unsafe to use (2024).
Building the tower also helped employment in the area after the the Heathfield furnace closed in 1787 and the Burwash forge closed in 1803. Closing of the iron production by the Fullers was primarily due to the Carron company in Scotland using coke to heat the iron hotter than the Wealden Charcoal and hence they could make Cannons cheaper with less iron than the Wealden gun making Industry.
Further Reading
If you would like further details of Mad Jack, the Fullers or the Brightling area please click on the following links:
![Norman archer](javascript:launch_resize("/images/1066AD/norman_archer_lft.png",900,1000);)
![Mad Jack Fuller](javascript:launch_resize("/tour_guide/images/mad_jack/the_tower1.jpg"))
The Towers original use was probably for signalling between the Bodiam Castle and the Tower to let Mad Jack know about the progression of the restoration, or to request building materials etc, although the view from the top of the tower would have also been spectacular.
