English Heritage

Rushton Triangular Lodge is an intriguing folly built in 1593-97 by Sir Thomas Tresham. Tresham was a staunch Roman Catholic, often fined or imprisoned for his then-illegal faith.

The lodge is a testament to Tresham’s defiant Catholicism and his obsession with quirky buildings, symbolism and numbers – particularly the number three. All Rushton Triangular Lodge’s features come in threes, symbolising the Holy Trinity.

There are three floors, trefoil windows and three sides, each 33 1/3-feet-long, with three triangular gables.

There are many coded references to Roman Catholic beliefs. Inscribed over the door is ‘Tres Testimonium Dant’ (‘there are three that bear witness’), a reference to the Trinity. It’s also a pun on Tresham’s name; his wife called him ‘Good Tres’, so the inscription could also mean ‘Tres bears witness’.