Eastnor Castle
Eastnor was built for John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers, who employed Robert Smirke, later the main architect of the British Museum.Eastnor remains a private home, and is currently the residence of James Hervey-Bathurst, the grandson of Arthur Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers.[4] The castle was criticised by Charles Locke Eastlake later in the 19th century: It is a massive and gloomy-looking building, flanked by watch-towers, and enclosing a keep.[6] As of 2020, the family occupied only a small part of the castle, "smaller rooms, and we mostly live in the kitchen, which was enlarged in 1992", according to James Hervey-Bathurst, who inherited the property from his mother,[7] the Hon.[11] In 1812 John Somers-Cocks, 2nd Earl Somers commissioned the construction of an obelisk on the Eastnor estate, to honour various members of his family.