Paxton's Tower, otherwise known as Nelson's Monument, is a towered and turreted banqueting house built shortly after 1805 for William Paxton of Middleton Hall (nprn 17569) in honour of Admiral Nelson. It is located on the south side of the Tywi valley, a short distance to the east of Middleton Hall.

The tower stands within what is effectively a small park, now a single field. The tower and its 'park' are an outlier of the great landscaped park and grounds of Middleton Hall (86175). It occupies the open, grassy summit of the escarpment known as Allt Pistyll-Dewi or Allt Fawr. It forms a spectacular landmark overlooking the Tywi Valley and was built as both a memorial and as an eye-catcher from the house and park at Middleton Hall.

The ground floor is triangular in plan with corner towers. This stands three storeys high and is surmounted by a smaller hexagonal lantern. On each face are plain plaques which originally had inscriptions to Nelson on each face, in English, Latin and Welsh, but are now bare. The design is vaguely Gothic in inspiration.
The ground floor is a grand porte cochere - a carriage porch - with arched openings in each wall and access to the turrets, one of which contained a spiral stair. Above this is the hexagonal banquetting room lit by three triple light windows. The cut off angles form lobbies to the turret rooms. In the tower above is the prospect room which had six tall arched openings. The upper turret rooms are accessed across the roof leads.

Sources:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire (ref: PGW(Dy)21(CAM)).
NMR site files; CADW Listed Buildings Database (9384).

RCAHMW, 8 July 2022

Site Record

Nelson's Monument, near Middleton Hall