Lyveden New Bield, Northamptonshire

This is not a ruin. It was intended to be a summer house for Sir Thomas Tresham, a late 16th Century politician. Unfortunately, he died before it was completed, and the building has stood unfinished for 400 years. It's now in the care of the National Trust.

This image is of the unfinished summer house viewed from across the man-made lake. The exterior walls are carved and finished and the interior wooden floors had been put in position (now removed). The roof was never finished. The estate's debts prevented future generations from continuing the work.