It has an embattled parapet, the kind of crenellated crown associated with medieval fortifications, and pseudo-bartizans, small projecting turret-like features at the corners that mimic the genuine defensive structures found on castle walls but serve no military purpose here whatsoever. This is a belvedere, a structure built purely for ornament and outlook, dressed up in the costume of something older and sterner than it actually is.

The tower belongs to the designed landscape of Fortwilliam, a 19th-century house to which the farmyard is attached. That pairing, a gentleman's residence and a carefully composed landscape feature grafted onto a functional outbuilding, was not uncommon among the improving landlord classes of the period. The fashion for Gothic Revival detailing, with its lancet windows and castellated skylines, gave landowners a way of lending historical weight to estates that were, in many cases, relatively recently established. Here the effect is visible in two slim lancet windows on the north-east and south-west elevations, their narrow pointed arches contrasting with the blocked windows on the first floor, which were either never intended to admit light or were closed off at some point after construction. String courses, the horizontal bands of projecting masonry that divide each floor, give the tower its only other decorative punctuation. The entrance door sits on the south-west elevation, facing the farmyard rather than any scenic prospect, which is a reminder that this kind of folly was as much about being seen as about seeing.