landscape

architecture, belvedere, East Sussex, eyecatcher, Folly, garden, garden history, landscape, Monument, Tower

Gibraltar Tower, Heathfield Park, East Sussex

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The Gibraltar Tower by Chris Broughton (1949-2015) as featured in 'Rockingham Whig Landscapes', New Arcadian Journal 71/72 (2013). Image courtesy of the New Arcadian Press.

In 1791 Francis Newbery, bought Bailey Park, an estate in East Sussex, which he renamed the Heathfield Park Estate. Almost immediately he set to work constructing this elegant tower on high ground in his park. The Folly Flâneuse has joined forces with The Garden Historian to elaborate on its history.

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

Starlight Castle, Seaton Delaval, Northumberland

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Starlight Castle is a folly on the grand Seaton Delaval estate close to the Northumberland coast. Today only a small section of wall survives, and historic photographs and postcards show it already in ruins a century ago. It was probably built by Sir Francis Delaval (1727-1771) in the middle of the 18th century. The story goes that Delaval wagered he could build a castle overnight, and this was the result.

architecture, Cumbria, eyecatcher, Folly, garden history, Lancashire, landscape, Summerhouse, Temple

The Temple, Holme Island, Cumbria

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Image courtesy of Cumbria Archive Service WDSO/288/2/7.

Holme Island is a small island in Morecambe Bay. It sits close to the coast, not far from Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria (formerly Lancashire). The island was connected to the mainland by a causeway in the 19th century, by which date it was home to a rather special small estate.

architecture, belvedere, eyecatcher, Folly, garden history, landscape, sham castle, Worcestershire

The Ruined Castle, Hagley, Worcestershire

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The Ruined Castle, Hagley. Photo courtesy of Michael Cousins.

The Ruined Castle in the grounds of Hagley Hall, near Stourbridge in Worcestershire, was built by Sir Thomas Lyttleton (1685-1751) in 1747-48 as a feature to be visited, and seen as a prospect, on a walk around his park. His eldest son, George Lyttelton (1709-1773), was probably a driving influence, and together they created one of the most perfect sham ruins in Britain.

architecture, church, Folly, garden, garden history, landscape, Scotland, structure

The Rose Walk, Jupiter Artland, near Wilkieston, Scotland

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As summer turned to autumn The Folly Flâneuse was reminded of a jolly jaunt to Jupiter Artland, a sculpture garden just outside Edinburgh, on a glorious day a year ago. A highlight was Pablo Bronstein’s Rose Walk, a pair of pavilions terminating a 25 metre long rose garden, their white-painted tracery magnificent against a clear blue sky. 

architecture, belvedere, eyecatcher, Folly, garden, landscape, Somerset, Summerhouse, Tower

The Summerhouse, Newton Surmaville, Somerset

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Newton Surmaville, just outside Yeovil, was bought by the Harbin family in the early 1600s, and they immediately set about constructing a very handsome new house. Sometime in the middle of the following century they added this summerhouse on Newton Hill, high above the house, and the story locally is that it was one of a trio of towers in the area, used by their owners to flag the message that it was time to ‘gallop over for a convivial evening’.