Old John the upper floor, and is open to visitors on the park's guided walk programmes. In 2001, Bradgate Park Trust registered the design of the building as a trademark, and in 2018 told a local artist that she would have to pay them if she continued to sell her paintings of it. Adjacent to the tower is a toposcope installed in 1953. This was installed by the people of Newtown Linford from money raised at the 1953 'Pageant of Lady Jane Grey', performed to celebrate 400 years since she was proclaimed Queen of England. Old John Tower occupies the north-eastern end
Bradgate Park to Hugh de Grandmesnil in the eleventh century as reward for his assistance in battle to William I. The name Bradgate is thought to derive from Norse or Anglo-Saxon, meaning "broad road" or "broad gate" respectively. The first mention of Bradgate Park is from 1241, by which time it was laid out as a hunting park, although rather smaller than the current boundary. It was subsequently acquired by the Beaumont family, passing to the de Quincy family and on to William de Ferrers of Groby. It remained in the de Ferrers family until 1445, when it passed to the Grey