War coppice road caterham5/21/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() And if the name was some sort of tribute to his youngest son, then it was made during his lifetime as the house was known as ‘Arthur’s Seat’ by 1857.Ī second plaque on the tower tells that it was erected in 1862. There’s no explanation for the choice of ‘Arthur’s Seat’ as the name of the house – one will read that it was because Long was a Scotsman (he was born in Warwickshire), or that there is an ancient earthwork nearby by that name (nothing is shown on maps). The tower was also an eye-catcher within the grounds of the house. Whilst the building may have been in part a tribute to his lost son, a plaque on the tower records a much simpler explanation: the tower was erected to enable Jeremiah Long, of Arthur’s Seat, White Hill, to ‘have a rich view of the country’. Legend has it that this sad event caused Jeremiah Long to erect the tower near his Surrey home. The deteriorating tower c.1971 from a poor quality transparency in Barbara Jones’s research files. Arthur was buried in a ‘1st Class Family Vault’ in the then new City of London Cemetery, and the Register of Internments poignantly records that he was aged ’13 years and 364 days’: he died the day before his 14th birthday. The younger three attended St Nicholas College (now Lancing College) in West Sussex, and it was here in 1858 that young Arthur and two schoolmates were tragically drowned, whilst bathing in the river Adur (the story has, as ever, become twisted in the telling, and some accounts incorrectly state that he was drowned at sea, or at Chelsea Reach). By this time Long seems to have been expecting great things from his boys, and named them accordingly: Caesar Alexander, Claudius Horatius and Arthur Antoninus. His first son Jeremiah William was born in 1829 and there was then a gap of ten years before further sons joined the family. By the time of his death in 1886 he was a ‘Deputy-Lieutenant of Tower Hamlets, a governor of Christ’s Hospital, and of numerous other London & provincial charities.’ His portfolio of properties included several houses in London, a seaside retreat in Brighton, and Arthur’s Seat, a country estate near Caterham, described as a ‘delightful residence situated on one of the prettiest hills and overlooking one of the most magnificent landscapes to be found in the picturesque county of Surrey’. Long (c.1804-1886) described himself as a ‘builder’ in the 1841 census, but over the next decades promoted himself to ‘Surveyor, Valuer and Estate Agent’ and ultimately ‘Landed Proprietor’. It was built by Jeremiah Long in the middle of the 19th century as an ornament in the grounds of his Surrey villa, but has been neglected for years and desperately needs attention before it topples to the ground. The ruinous shell of the Whitehill Tower stands on high ground with extensive views across Surrey and down towards the south coast. ![]()
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