Grotto, South Yorkshire

Hermit’s Cave, South Yorkshire

A recent revelation on a private estate in South Yorkshire. Whilst wandering the grounds with the owner she mentioned it only as an aside: “I don’t suppose you are interested in the hermit’s cave?”. Not even the torrential April rain could dampen my spirits, although photos had to wait for more congenial weather. No history has been found to date, and it’s not even on O.S. maps, but appetites have been whetted…

North Yorkshire, Temple

Temple of Piety, Studley Royal, North Yorkshire

The National Trust has applied for Listed Building Consent to place two replica busts in the Temple of Piety at Studley Royal.

Construction of the temple overlooking the Moon Ponds took place in the 1730s, probably under the direction of the stonemason John Doe. The architect is not known although the building is identical to a Palladio drawing of the (long since destroyed) Temple of Piety in Rome. This sketch was once owned by Lord Burlington, a friend of John Aislabie who owned Studley.

eyecatcher, Folly, North Yorkshire, Observatory, Tower

Bambro’ Castle, Howsham, North Yorkshire

Barbara Jones, the first person to write a comprehensive account of follies in Britain, saw this building and was underwhelmed. In the 1953 first edition of Follies & Grottoes she described it as ‘gutted’ and full of pigeon’s nests, and concluded that ‘no amount of bird life can divest this folly of its ordinariness’. If only she had seen it in its prime: a sketch by the itinerant artist and drawing master J.C. Nattes dated 1807 shows an enchanting little building.

Courtesy Manchester Art Gallery

Bambro’ Castle, as it was called, was named in honour of the Bamburgh family, former owners of Howsham. It is not recorded if the builder, Nathaniel Cholmley, was consciously allying his diminutive structure with the somewhat grander Bamburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast. It was extant by 1791, when it is named as ‘Bamburgh Castle House’. The gothic detail is similar to that on the nearby Howsham Mill which is attributed to John Carr of York. Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown is known to have drawn up a plan for Howsham, and these buildings ‘punctuating’ and ornamenting the landscape may have been his suggestion. Sadly little archival material for this period has survived for Howsham.

The mill at Howsham. Functional and an eye-catcher in the landscape.

The folly served a dual purpose. By day, it was a summer-house for refreshments when riding through the ornamental woodland on the Howsham estate. Furnished with a ‘Chintz sofa’, an octagonal mahogany dining table, painted and gilded chairs and all the paraphernalia for serving lemonade, tea and cake it must have been an idyllic retreat. As night fell it perhaps became an observatory for it housed a ‘large Tellescope’.

Jones was one of the last to record the building. Soon after it deteriorated further and was eventually demolished as the ornamental woodland gave way to commercial forestry. Visitors in the 1980s were sad to find it gone.

Surely Barbara Jones was let down by her memory? The two photos above are from from her own files (generously shared from a private collection). How could she describe this folly as ordinary?

Howsham Hall is an events venue and there is no public access. Howsham Mill is open regularly https://www.howshammill.org.uk

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Grotto, Surrey

The Grotto, Beaverbrook, Surrey

Beaverbrook is a sumptuous country house hotel close to Dorking in Surrey. It was formerly the home of Lord Beaverbrook, the press baron, who found it by accident, and snapped it up, whilst out motoring with Rudyard Kipling in 1911. His house guests at Cherkley Court, as it then was, included luminaries from politics, the arts and show business. Winston Churchill dictated letters from his bath, Jean Cocteau painted a glass panel that remains above a door and Elizabeth Taylor provided Hollywood glamour.