North Yorkshire, 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 probably constructed in the second half of the 18th century, and the gothic detail is similar to that on the nearby Howsham Mill http://www.howshammill.org.uk which is attributed to John Carr of York.

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 an octagonal mahogany dining table and all the paraphernalia for serving tea and cake it must have been an idyllic retreat. As night fell it became an observatory and housed a ‘very 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?

The Needle’s Eye, Wentworth Woodhouse. Subscribe and discover many other fascinating follies.

Subscribe

Subscribing to The Folly Flaneuse ensures you will never miss a post. All you need to do is provide me with your contact information and you will automatically receive an email each Saturday when I post new content on thefollyflaneuse.com. Your email address will never be sold or shared

 You can remove yourself anytime by contacting me.

2 thoughts on “Bambro’ Castle, Howsham, North Yorkshire”

  1. E says:

    Hi Karen, Loving your folly Flaneuse. Have you recorded the folly on the descent from Roseberry Topping. Not exciting but an enjoyable walk.

    Happy New Year and hope your husband’s ankle mended. I know these can take a long time as my husband did same.

    Caroline Kernan

    1. Editor says:

      Thanks Caroline. I love that little shooting box on Roseberry Topping. Thanks for prompting me I will revisit. Husband much improved thanks. Happy new year.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.