architecture, Banqueting House, belvedere, country house, eyecatcher, Folly, garden history, landscape garden, Summerhouse, Temple, West Yorkshire

Black Dick’s Temple, Whitley Beaumont, West Yorkshire

Many follies have lurid tales attached telling of wicked acts and/or ghostly goings-on and a classical temple, high on the Whitley Beaumont estate near Kirkheaton, doesn’t disappoint. It is known locally as Black Dick’s Temple, after Whitley Beaumont’s owner in the early seventeenth century, Sir Richard Beaumont. Local legends tell that Sir Richard ran up such huge debts gambling that he had to live a double-life as a highwayman. He is said to haunt the site and, of course, there are whispers of a network of secret tunnels under the building.

architecture, Folly, garden history

Barbara Jones, ‘Follies & Grottoes’, 1974.

Jones's view of Clytha Castle, near Abergavenny.

In 1953 Barbara Jones published Follies & Grottoes, a ‘handsome book on a fascinating subject’. It was the first book to look at follies in any depth, and was well-received. Almost twenty years later it was announced that there would be a revised edition, for whilst the first edition was remembered as a pioneering book, it was ‘not a comprehensive survey’. Upon publication in November 1974 (fifty years ago this week) the new edition was judged ‘double the size and more than twice as good’.

architecture, belvedere, Cheshire, eyecatcher, Folly, garden history, landscape garden, Tower

The Tower, Tabley House, Cheshire. Part I: Early Days.

J.M.W. Turner's view of the lake and tower at Tabley House. Full reference below.

Sir Peter Byrne Leicester inherited the Tabley estate in 1742. At that date the mansion and adjacent chapel were picturesquely situated on an island in a lake, but Sir Peter had new ideas. In around 1760 he called in John Carr of York to build a new mansion, in the Palladian style, on higher ground about half a mile from the old. With the new hall complete Sir Peter did not demolish the old hall and chapel on the island, but instead left them standing to be admired as ‘ornamental features in the landscape’ (although he had little choice as the terms of his inheritance compelled him to keep the old mansion in repair). Sir Peter’s son would later add a tower as an eye-catcher and picnic pavilion.

architecture, garden history, hampshire, Rustic shelter, Summerhouse

The Summerhouse, Stratfield Saye, Hampshire

After his great success in keeping Great Britain safe from Napoleon Bonaparte, the Duke of Wellington was asked to choose an estate which would be funded by a grateful nation. In 1817 he saw Stratfield Saye, and decided to make it his home. He lived there until his death in 1852, and it remains the seat of his descendants. In 1845 Queen Victoria announced that she and Prince Albert, together with their courtiers, were coming to stay with the ‘good old Duke’.

architecture, belvedere, eyecatcher, Folly, garden history, Northumberland, sham castle

Rothley Castle, Rothley, Northumberland

In the middle of the 18th century Wallington Hall, west of Morpeth in Northumberland, was the seat of Sir Walter Calverley Blackett. Like many men of his time, he remodelled his park and introduced fashionable landscape features. On Rothley Crags, a windswept outcrop of rock north of Wallington Hall, he erected a sham castle which served as a distant eye-catcher from the house.

architecture, Art, bridge, eyecatcher, garden history, landscape garden, wiltshire

The Palladian Bridge, Wilton House, Wiltshire

The Palladian Bridge at Wilton House, in Wiltshire, was built in 1736-37 for Henry Herbert, the 9th Earl of Pembroke. The design was his own, and such was his passion for building that he became known as the ‘Architect Earl’. The bridge crosses the River Nadder which forms the boundary between the formal gardens and informal landscape.

architecture, garden history, Gloucestershire, landscape garden, Sculpture, Summerhouse

Pope’s Seat, Cirencester Park, Gloucestershire

In the vast park of Cirencester House, adjoining the town of the same name, a pretty rusticated temple sits in an opening called Seven Rides. This is the point where avenues cut through the woodland meet, giving long vistas in each direction. It was named Pope’s Seat after the poet, Alexander, who designed it for his friend Lord Bathurst.

Pope’s Seat as photographed by Henry Taunt in 1883. Courtesy of Oxfordshire History Centre POX0150400

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was a good friend of Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl of Bathurst (1684-1775), who in the early eighteenth century was laying out pleasure grounds and parkland at his seat on the edge of the town of Cirencester. By 1742 Lord Bathurst’s demesne was described as ‘a fine park […] adornd wth several beautifull buildings’. Pope is said to have offered advice on this landscaping and designed this alcove, which was named in his honour – ‘POPES SEAT’ is engraved on a stone above the entrance.

The Flâneuse is delighted to announce that a diminutive new version of the summerhouse has been added to the Cirencester Park landscape. Bristol based woodcarver Andy O’Neill started his working life as a graphic designer, before a desire to work outdoors led to a new career as a tree surgeon. Then, combining his creative and arboricultural talents, he began to create sculptures with a chainsaw.

Andy O’Neill working on the sculpture. Photo courtesy of the Bathurst Estate.

When a decaying cedar had to be felled in Cirencester Park, Lord Bathurst saw the opportunity to use some of the timber to create a bench on the Broad Avenue, which runs for around six miles through the estate. In consultation with Andy it was decided to decorate it with Pope’s Seat in miniature.

The bench with Hamish Mackie’s Andalusian Stallion in the background. This front looks down the Broad Avenue to the town of Cirencester.
A glimpse of the statue through the alcove’s open arch.
The back of the ‘new’ Pope’s Seat which looks up the Broad Avenue towards where its much older big brother stands.
The seat enjoys a peep to the Queen Anne Monument.

Pope’s Seat is listed at grade II*. It and other fascinating ornaments can be seen when exploring Cirencester Park. For more information visit https://www.bathurstestate.co.uk

For more on Andy’s work see https://wildwoodcarving.co.uk

Sculptor Hamish Mackie has four sculptures on display in Cirencester Park this summer. There’s more on the estate website (link above).

Thank you for reading and do get in touch if you have any thoughts you’d like to share. Scroll down to the foot of the page to find the comments box.