Driving into Kirkoswald from the south, the Flâneuse was convinced that she had discovered a charming hilltop folly. But she was wrong, and this building has a very particular purpose – it is the belfry to the church in the hollow below, and was built on higher ground so that the church bells could ring loud and clear across the district. As it was clearly also built as an ornament to the landscape, the Flâneuse concluded it was worthy of inclusion here.

Whilst detached belfries can be found in a number of locations, the one at Kirkoswald, which stands about 8 miles north of Penrith in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness (in the ceremonial county of Cumbria), is thought to be unique in that is stands at such a distance from the church. According to the Victoria County History, the tower was in existence by 1568, and it has been suggested that it was originally a simple timber structure. The weather vane carries the date 1743, so the pyramidal-roofed tower shown in old views may have been erected at that date.

Early descriptions give little detail on the style of the building: in 1794 the detached belfry was described simply as ‘peculiar and remarkable’, but we know that in 1814 the tower was whitewashed and a ‘very conspicuous object’, as shown below.

By 1890 the belfry was described as being ‘in a somewhat dilapidated condition’ and, as the inscription above the door notes, the tower was rebuilt in 1893 in memory of the late vicar John Henry Ransome (1877-1892). The parish raised funds of around £600 to fund the rebuilding, which was carried out by a local man, Mr A. Watson.

This must have been one of the smallest commissions in the career of the Carlisle architect C.J. Ferguson (1840-1904). Ferguson specialised in ecclesiastical buildings in Cumberland and Westmorland where he restored numerous churches, and was author of several new ones. Ferguson designed a new upper storey for the belfry, complete with a battlemented roof and corner turret, built in the vibrant pink sandstone common in the Eden Valley. The three ‘very ancient bells’ were rehung, with two first undergoing renovation work at the famous Taylor’s Bell Foundry in Loughborough (two are still in the tower and the third can now be seen in the church).

The church can be found at the end of an avenue known as the ‘church flags’. This pavement was laid by the Fetherstonhaughs of The College, the seat across the road from the church. It is just the prettiest of approaches, appreciated by visitors since the 1530s according to the notice board.

The Grade II* listed tower is easily seen from the road into the village. The church is usually open to visitors in the summer months and is full of interest.

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In 1837 George Jones opened a pleasure garden by the Thames at Gravesend. It was a great success, and new features were quickly added to tempt visitors. By 1849 it was said that the gardens were ‘sweet, safe, shady and salubrious’ and the ‘prettiest thing’ between the Thames and the Tiber.

Formed as the Kent Zoological and Botanical Gardens Company in 1837, the animals soon ceased to be the focus, and over the years the gardens were home to attractions including theatres, cafes, an archery ground and a lake. The extensive ornamental grounds, admired for the botanical specimens, featured a maze. There was dancing and fireworks, and special guest performers included singers, musicians and daring performers such as tightrope walkers.  Quick to capitalise on the success of the famed funambulist Charles Blondin were similar acts, including the imaginatively-titled ‘Female Blondin’, ‘Young Blondin’ and ‘African Blondin’, all of whom appeared at Rosherville Gardens.

Right at the start a tower (above) was built on high ground ‘to point out the Gardens from the River’: initially most guests arrived by boat at Rosherville pier. In May 1868 the foundation stone was laid for a new clocktower, and a grand banquet was held to celebrate the occasion. When complete for the 1869 season the ‘observatory and clocktower’ stood, according to the newspapers, ‘nearly a hundred feet high’. It formed part of a new entrance into the gardens, as shown below (note the rather dapper young man on the steps). Bells were ordered from the famed Taylors of Loughborough, and it was planned that they would play a different tune, on the hour, every day. A clock had dials on four faces of the tower, each of which was illuminated at night.

The tower was a success with the public, but not so much so with the Mr Simpson whose house it overlooked, and who found the ‘melodious peal of bells’ a nuisance. He took Jones to court but the parties reached an agreement just before the case was heard. The judge raised a laugh when he said that as Rosherville was marketed as a ‘place to spend a happy day’ the defendant and plaintiff should return to Gravesend and ‘be happy together’.

A visitor in 1884 saved their flyer promoting the tower, so we know what delights were available on payment of one penny:

The coloured glass windows were particularly popular, making the ‘Thames and the trees look as if they were made of raspberries and cream and all manner of colours’.

The gardens changed hands a number of times after Jones sold up in 1872, with many a new attraction offered. After various ups and downs in their fortunes the gardens, by now depleted in size and derelict in appearance, closed for good in the late 1930s, and the site was redeveloped.

Such had been the fame of the gardens that when the demolition of the crumbling tower was announced in January 1939 it was reported in newspapers across the country. Today there are few reminders of the lost gardens: some fragments of the clifftop entrance survive and the bear pit has been restored (both are listed at grade II).

For a full history of the gardens there is an excellent publication by Gravesend Historical Society https://www.discovergravesham.co.uk/books/publications.html

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John Powell Powell (1769-1849 – the double Powell acquired to meet the conditions of an inheritance) was passionate about bell-ringing and erected this ‘light, elegant and fanciful building’ at Quex Park, his seat in Kent, where his hobby could be indulged. Not content with a lofty tower, he almost doubled its height with a unique cast iron spire – years before a certain Parisian landmark took shape.

In 1819 construction work on the first stage of a brick bell-tower was complete and 12 bells were installed. These were made at the famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry in east London, and the tenor bell was engraved with the words ‘This peal of bells was cast for John Powell Powell of Quex House, Isle of Thanet, by Thos. Mears of Whitechapel, London, for the amusement of himself and friends’. At that date the tower was the only structure in Kent with a set of 12 bells, and was all the more curious as it was a secular, rather than an ecclesiastical tower. The story is told locally that the bells were originally to have been a gift to Birchington church, but when the parish was slow to accept a frustrated Powell decided to erect the tower.

John Mockett was invited to see the tower on June 4 1819, the King’s birthday, and recorded the event in his journal:
‘John P. Powell, Esq., of Quex Park… having erected a tower in his park, in which he placed a complete set of bells for his amusement, being very partial to bell-ringing, had the same opened, this day, with a merry peal, by a select set of ringers; and, in his usual liberal manner, entertained a large party of his friends at his mansion.’

Throughout July local groups of ringers visited to try the bells and compete to produce the most perfect performance. The official opening was held on 4 August 1819, when the Royal Society of Cumberland Youths (named for the Duke of Cumberland) was invited to ring the bells.

The bell-tower was not the first such structure to be built at Quex Park, as shown in the centre of the engraving above. A few years earlier, in around 1814, Powell had started work on a tower from which he could signal out to sea (only a mile away) and which was fitted up with a ‘ring of 12 handbells rung by means of lines from each, so arranged that one person could command them all & play tunes on them’. Rather less musical was Powell’s collection of cannon: these were displayed in front of the tower and sometimes fired. A Kent county history of 1830 records that the Round Tower was ‘appropriated by its munificent owner to the pastime of discharges of canon [sic], which with the peals of his bells constitute a favourite amusement of the gentleman in question’.

Powell was described as ‘the only gentleman in the kingdom who keeps in his service a regular band of bell-ringers’: his ‘servants, labourers and workmen’ were trained in the art by one of the ‘college youths from London’ (the Ancient Society of College Youths was founded in 1637 and promotes ‘excellence in ringing around the world’). Early in 1820 George III died, and the ringers were called upon to mark the occasion. On the evening of his funeral the bells in the Waterloo Tower were muffled, and ‘solemn mourning peals performed on them […] in sacred remembrance’.

In that same year the tower’s curious metal crown was put in place. Visiting just before the tower was opened, John Alfred Parnell (known as ‘the Gothic Traveller’ because of his pedestrian perambulations to gothic cathedrals) noted Powell’s plans for the tower: ‘N:B: Mr Powell will have a lofty Spire on his Tower. two thirds of Cast Iron and to be sprung with 4: Quarter Circle Arches. then it will be a Noble Sea-Mark, being only one Mile from that Briney fluid’ (a later writer would ponder what mariners thought when they saw the curious structure above the trees).

Frustratingly the architect is not known, although Gustav Eiffel can presumably be eliminated as he was only a child when the spire was erected. We do know that William Mackney was paid for ‘iron castings for the ringing tower’, and plates on the metal spire reveal the involvement of ‘John Clark Ramsgate 1820’: probably the John Clark of Ramsgate who was Powell’s head carpenter but who had progressed to ‘Master Builder’ by the time of the 1851 census.

The building quickly became known as the Waterloo Tower, although it was named simply as the ‘Bell-tower’ on 19th century maps. Inside it was ‘fitted up in a very beautiful manner with mahogany stair-cases’.  Powell was a ringer himself, and ‘assisted personally’ with the ‘choice and beautiful pieces of melody’ played to mark the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838. Many events were commemorated by the ringers over the years, and it must have been a solemn occasion in 1849 when a ‘mournful peal’ was rung at the tower on the death of Powell himself.

Throughout the 19th century ringers were welcomed at Quex. The New Inn at nearby Birchington was kept busy with parties such as the Saint Mary’s Society of Battersea who visited in 1885: after a ‘refreshing sleep’ the members enjoyed an ‘invigorating walk on the sands and a substantial breakfast’ to fortify them before a strenuous morning in the Waterloo Tower.

In 1896 the tower was restored and one of the four corner pavilions consecrated as the family mausoleum (some remains were moved and reburied at that time, but John Powell Powell rests in Birchington church). For this reason public access is limited to occasional open days.

In the 1930s the prolific writer Dennis Wheatley (1897-1977) used Quex Park as a setting in one of his highly popular thrillers: Contraband was published in 1935 and in it the Waterloo Tower, topped with ‘a miniature Eiffel tower’, plays a leading role in a story of international intrigue and dodgy dealings.

Barbara Jones visited when researching for Follies & Grottoes, which was published in 1953. She admired the ‘beautiful structure’ and declared the Waterloo Tower to be the ‘best kept folly in England’. Both towers are listed at grade II and the Waterloo Tower is still home to The Quex Park Society of Change Ringers.

Quex Park is home to the Powell Cotton Museum and the gardens are open to the public. For more information see https://www.quexpark.co.uk and https://powell-cottonmuseum.org

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Soon after the close of the First World War the people of Loughborough began to consider how to commemorate those who had lost their lives in the conflict. The civic dignitaries considered a number of ideas but the proposal of a ‘lofty tower and carillon of bells caught the imagination of a number of eminent municipal people’.

When the idea was put to the townspeople there was great support, and it was decided that the tower should be built in Queen’s Park where ‘the sweet note of the carillon set in beautiful surroundings would prove a solace to many an aching and desolated heart’.

A carillon was thought appropriate for a war memorial in Loughborough for two principal reasons. First, the town was ‘the birthplace of some of the finest bells in existence’. These were produced at Taylor’s Bell Foundry, which survives today: bells have been cast there since 1839 and can be heard throughout the world.

It was also felt that carillons were particularly associated with Flanders, in Belgium, where ‘so many spots were for ever England’ for the Loughborough men who had been killed there.

The tower, now listed at grade II, was designed by Walter John Tapper (1861-1935) who was particularly known for his ecclesiastical work. He served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1927-28 and was Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey from 1928 until his death. He was knighted shortly before his death in 1935. Tapper’s first proposal was rejected as too expensive, so he came up with this new and more affordable design.

An appeal was launched to raise funds for the tower and there were donations from the great and the good of the town as well as everyday folk including ‘1,750 factory girls who gave from their wages’. Work began in late 1921 and the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone was on 22 January 1922. The town was proud that most of the materials and contractors were local to Loughborough. As building work continued companies and individuals enthusiastically offered to sponsor the bells, and almost all are engraved with the name of the donor and often a dedication to a family member who died in the war.

The war memorial was officially opened in front of huge crowds on 22 July 1923. Field Marshall Sir William Robertson performed the ceremonial unveiling before the Bishop of Peterborough announced the dedication. And then of course came the moment they had all been waiting for: the bells began to chime. A programme of music included a piece written by Sir Edward Elgar especially for the occasion as well as his Land of Hope and Glory, Chopin’s March Funèbre and the National Anthem.

The bells are played via a clavier in the chamber below the bells (see the section of the building above) and Eric Jordan was appointed the Borough Carillonneur soon after the tower was opened. As carillons are so rare in Britain he had no experience in playing the bells, but went to Belgium for lessons with that country’s preeminent practitioner Chevalier Jef. Denny (who had played the bells at the opening of the Loughborough war memorial tower). Jordan’s regular recitals were hugely popular and his playing was recorded by His Master’s Voice.

Eric’s playing was recorded in 1928 and you can listen to it here https://archive.org/details/2-jordan-we-carillon-fantasia-popular-songs-hmv-b-2683/3+Jordan+WE+Carillon+-+Mendelssohn+HMV+B+2687.flac

The tower was restored in 2018 and reached its centenary on 22 July 2023 when there was a special service to mark the occasion. Alun Brignull of the Hedgehog Press lives within the sound of the bells, and made this type-picture of the war memorial on the day of the celebrations.

From the start it was planned to establish a museum in the lower rooms and that use continues today with a focus on Loughborough and the two world wars. The museum is open on Thursdays and Sundays in the summer months when the carillon is also played (check the website before visiting) https://www.carillontower.org.uk

And if you’d like your very own carillon you can download a cut-out-and-build model (try and make it a little less wonky than the Flâneuse’s attempt) https://www.carillontower.org.uk/model/tower.pdf

For much more on the history of the tower visit https://www.loughborough-rollofhonour.com/page95.htm

APOLOGIES to subscribers who did not receive an email alert last week. This was due to technical issues which, hopefully, have now been resolved. If you would like to see last week’s post about the Temple of Venus at Harewood please click here https://thefollyflaneuse.com/the-temple-of-venus-harewood-house-west-yorkshire/

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In the 1850s John Tingey, a Norfolk merchant with a passion for agriculture, began to develop a small estate in the village of Little Ellingham near Attleborough, in Norfolk. Despite investing heavily in new buildings and technology, he was not the owner of the land, and claimed his vast complex of farm buildings was the largest range ‘ever erected by a tenant farmer in England’. But the practical Tingey wasn’t averse to a little bit of ornament, as this clock tower/cottage curiosity attests.

In around 1855 Tingey (c.1810-1874) commissioned the London-based architect Daniel Cubitt Nichols (1825-1895) to design his model farm. Nichols is not a well-known architect, and it is not clear how Tingey was introduced to his work, or how much input Tingey himself had in the design of such a quirky structure. The design for the ‘cottages and clock tower’ was published in The Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal in 1857. From that publication we learn that Nichols had also designed a new house for Tingey which at that date was ‘not yet finished’.

The cottages were designed to house a gardener and a groom, and the finishing touch was to be a ‘very valuable’ clock. The article hints that the clock and chimes may have been rescued from elsewhere, as the architect was ‘not allowed’ to make any alterations to the bell-chamber, but simply to ‘re-erect’ it.

The hall and clock tower cottages were constructed using bricks and tiles fired on the estate, with stone only making an appearance for doorsteps. Gault bricks of a pale yellow/buff colour are the principal material, with dressings in red brick, and in 1883 the completed ‘handsome mansion of red and white brick’ was noted in a gazetteer, as was the clock tower in its ‘pleasure grounds’. By the time the estate was offered for sale in 1905 the planting was maturing, and the house stood at the end of an avenue drive through a ‘heavily timbered miniature park’.

In 1974 Barbara Jones described the clock tower (it appears never to have been called anything else) as ‘one of the most charming and surprising things anywhere’, and the Folly Flâneuse confesses to a yelp of delight upon catching a first glimpse through the trees. The clock face was in sound condition when Jones saw it in the early 1970s, but it is a little the worse for wear today, although the tower and cottages are in good repair.

The tower, listed at grade II, is a private residence, but can be seen from the roadside. The village is rightly proud of its unique clock tower.

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