In the middle of the 18th century the Earl of Strafford was embellishing his seat at Wentworth Castle near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. A new wing was added to the mansion and the grounds were decorated with temples, columns and garden seats. Strafford asked his lifelong friend Horace Walpole for advice on an ornament for his menagerie, and this little gothic temple was the result.

The Menagerie, or Menagery, at Wentworth Castle (historically also known as Stainborough) was already well-established when Walpole was consulted. A substantial building, completed in 1717, provided a home for the keeper who looked after the ornamental birds and also provided a space for refreshments when Lord Strafford was taking his guests for tours of the park and gardens. In April 1738 ‘two good fires’ warmed a party who had been out exploring the estate, and an inventory of a few years later shows that the Menagerie House had a settee and cups and saucers for tea.

The menagerie grounds included ponds and cascades as well as homes for the birds (there is no evidence of any other animals). In 1771 there were ornamental pheasants but a poem of 1731 shows that there was an avian presence 40 years before that:

From thence with Pleasure you may see
Strange Birds at the Menagerie,
Some Squeek, Some Cry – Some Sing, Some Squall,
Whose echo Sounds unto the hall;

In 1739 William Wentworth (1722-1791) succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Strafford of the 2nd creation. Two years later he married Lady Anne Campbell (1720-1785) and the couple’s social circle included Horace Walpole (1717-1797), creator of the gothic delight called Strawberry Hill in Twickenham. When his friends asked him to design a building for the menagerie, Walpole suggested a structure ‘in the manner of an ancient market cross’, and in particular that at Chichester in Sussex.

In 1756 Walpole’s friend Richard Bentley (1708-1782), a fellow member of the self-styled Committee of Taste based at Strawberry Hill, produced a drawing for Strafford’s masons and construction of the temple began soon after.

The menagerie was Lady Anne Strafford’s domain, and her passion for the peacocks and ornamental pheasants in the grounds led Walpole (who revered Anne as both a beauty and a wit) to refer to her as ‘the lady of the menagerie’.

Walpole visited in August 1760 to see the finished work and he admired the situation of the temple ‘on a high bank in the menagerie, between a pond and a vale, totally bowered over with oaks’. Walpole’s role in the design must have been pointed out to visitors as a traveller in 1761 noted ‘the Elegant Gothic temple designed by Mr Horace Walpole’.

Whilst Wentworth Castle was very much on the 18th century ‘tourist trail’, and is mentioned in countless travel journals, there are very few accounts of the little temple, but Arthur Young wrote a good account in 1771. He walked across a grass lawn overhung with oaks to find ‘a Gothic temple, over a little grot, which forms an arch, and together have a most pleasing effect’. Behind it was a piece of water with an island and the banks were ‘prettily planted’. The history of the chamber underneath the temple is not clear – it is not mentioned in Walpole’s correspondence and possibly pre-dates the building of the temple.

A little guidebook with the comprehensive title of Stainborough & Rockley, their Historical Associations, and Rural Attractions was published in 1853 (this is the source of the title image). By then the Menagerie wore ‘an air of neglect’ and the shrubs and trees had run wild. Some ‘traces of its former beauty’ were still visible and these included the piece of water and the gothic temple ‘on an elevated basement’, which was ‘beautifully artistic, and of elaborate character’.

Wentworth Castle featured in Country Life in 1924 when the magazine’s Architectural Editor H. Avray Tipping described the feature as ‘somewhat ruinous’, although he was referring in particular to the grotto chamber rather than the ‘mock-mediaeval frippery’ of the temple itself. During the Second World War troops were stationed at Wentworth Castle and the story goes that the temple was used for target practice.

Barbara Jones went to see the temple when she was researching for the first edition of Follies & Grottoes, published in 1953. She described the ‘little summerhouse’ as being ‘of the very best mid-eighteenth century gothic’, and she was saddened to learn that the building had been intact until the Second World War. When she saw it in the decade after the war the elegant pinnacles were gone – ‘wanton destruction’ was her conclusion. By the time the revised edition of her book was published in 1974 the temple was ‘only rubble’. Nikolaus Pevsner called the temple ‘the umbrello’ in the 1959 1st edition of The Buildings of England: Yorkshire the West Riding, and that name seems to have been adopted from that date.

The stone fragments were recorded by the National Monuments Record in 1965 and nature then covered over the remains. In 2006 Archaeological Services WYAS were commissioned to survey the collapsed structure. Happily, the masonry was found to be largely extant, and we can hope that one day the funds might be found to enable a restoration.

Much restoration work has already taken place under the auspices of the Wentworth Castle and Stainborough Castle Heritage Trust which was established in 2001. The site of the Gothic temple is not publicly accessible but a sham castle, temples, obelisks, a column and extensive gardens make a visit to Wentworth Castle (not to be confused with neighbouring Wentworth Woodhouse) more than worthwhile. The house is home to the Northern College but opens for monthly tours. In 2018 the National Trust took over the management of the gardens and park https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/wentworth-castle-gardens

No feature on Wentworth Castle is complete without a mention of the pioneering research of Dr Patrick Eyres and Dr Michael Charlesworth: their work is gratefully acknowledged.

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There was good news in autumn 2019 with the announcement that the great Georgian estate of Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, had been awarded National Heritage Lottery funds to allow work to begin on the restoration of the Camellia House. Originally known as the Greenhouse, the building was part of a menagerie complex which housed exotic pheasants. Only 20 miles away, in Bawtry, another curious aviary has sadly not survived. 

The 18th century saw a mania for ornamental birds, and particularly pheasants, introduced into Britain from ‘exotic’ lands. Shops were established where ladies could choose the finest specimens, and architects and landscape designers were kept busy designing menageries and aviaries. The colourful birds also appeared on wallpaper, porcelain, and needlework panels as the fashion took hold.

The menagerie at Wentworth Woodhouse was created in the 1730s by Lord and Lady Malton, later the 1st Earl and Countess of Rockingham, and it took the form of a grass meadow edged with shrubberies. At the side were pens for the birds, mainly ornamental pheasants from around the world, although visitors were impressed by a ‘pair of Cockatoos flying at liberty in the gardens’. Alongside the imported curiosities there were also domestic poultry, and cows grazed nearby, adding to the pastoral scene. Over time more exotic creatures, including an eagle and a moose, were added, and by the middle of the 19th century sheep, goats and llamas lived alongside an American bear, ring-tailed lemurs, kangaroos and many other species.

The double-faced ‘pavilion and greenhouse’ at the upper end of the menagerie provided a place for ladies to drink tea when visiting to admire the flora and fauna. The building must have been a real opportunity for the family to impress guests – exotic birds, an ‘architectural greenhouse’, and a cup of tea – at that date still a luxury item.

The Greenhouse was built in 1738 to replace one elsewhere on the estate. In c.1814 it was extended as a home for an important collection of Camellias, and was suitably renamed. The new building was decorated with Coade stone ornaments: four female statues and two baskets of fruit. Camellias provide welcome winter colour, and were in bloom when they were placed on the coffin of Viscount Milton, son of the 6th Earl Fitzwilliam, in January 1877.

The Camellia House fell into disrepair after the house was requisitioned during World War Two, although the Camellias still grew amid the dereliction, and recent clearance work has re-revealed their glory. The building will be restored as a cafe and tea will once more be drunk there, which is appropriate really as tea (Camellia sinensis) is a close relation of the ornamental camellia.

Not too far away from Wentworth is Bawtry Hall, which can be found on the edge of the village of the same name, close to the border with Nottinghamshire. The estate was purchased by Pemberton Milnes in 1779, and soon after that date he built a new mansion to the design of Doncaster architect William Lindley. Milnes died in 1795, and the estate passed to his daughter, Bridget, who in 1775 had married Peter Auriol Hay Drummond, a son of the then Archbishop of York. The couple had lived at Bawtry Hall during her father’s lifetime, paying a peppercorn rent from at least 1789. In 1793 a visitor described ‘Mr Drummond’s very pretty grounds’; the highlight was ‘a Charming Avery (sic) fancifully built, enclosing some beautiful Pheasants, particularly the golden.’

Drummond died in 1799, and in 1803 Bridget married Robert Monckton-Arundel, 4th Viscount Galway. They lived at nearby Serlby Hall until Galway’s death in 1810, but the Viscountess made visits to Bawtry to manage her estate. In 1804 Doncaster’s historian Edward Miller wrote that she ‘has the groves and grounds in the nicest order; and in a beautiful little area, surrounded by shrubs, has erected the annexed elegant menagerie for the reception of curious and rare birds to which she pays great attention.’ It is only thanks to Miller’s ‘annexed’ engraving that we know that the aviary took the form of a large round cage.

Following the death of her second husband, Bridget returned to Bawtry Hall and to the care of her gardens and aviary. Peck’s Topographical History of Bawtry, published in 1813, notes that the menagerie’s principal inhabitants were three species of ornamental pheasant; the golden, the silver and the common. The aviary was still in use in April 1835 when a reward of £5 was offered for information on the theft of a silver pheasant. The dowager died in November of that year and the house was then rented out, the aviary probably declining from that date.

The Dowager Viscountess Galway’s heirs sold the estate in 1904 and in 1939 it was acquired by the Ministry of Defence, who made it the HQ of Bomber Command from 1941. After the war the hall was retained by the RAF although much of the grounds was developed for housing. The hall was sold in the 1980s and was subsequently used as offices and as a religious retreat until in 2017 it became a wedding and events venue. The plantation called Menagerie Wood is the only reminder of the unusual building that once ornamented the grounds.

There’s more about the Chippendale Society here https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/temple-newsam/
and much of the society’s wonderful collection is on display at Temple Newsam, near Leeds https://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/templenewsamhouse

For Wentworth Woodhouse see https://wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk

On Sunday, The Folly Flâneuse was one of the happy few who discovered the location of the Secret Salons, three venues which combined the finest music and architecture. As part of Richmond’s annual festival celebrating all things Georgian, the evening was a fundraiser for the town’s Theatre Royal, a unique intact survivor from that era. Participants promenaded between three lovely venues, but of course the one that gave the greatest joy to the present writer was the Culloden Tower.

On an eminence on the edge of town the tower is a dramatic landmark. It was built by John Yorke as a feature in the park surrounding his mansion, The Green, which was demolished in the 1820s. Although known today as the Culloden Tower, in the 19th century it was called the Cumberland Tower, or Temple, and it is marked simply as The Temple on the earliest Ordnance Survey maps. It was built on, or close to, the site of an earlier peel tower but an exact date has not yet been discovered. It must however be between 1732 – as it bears the arms of Anne Darcy who Yorke married in that year – and 1749 when it is described as a ‘Gothick Tower on an eminence’. It is attributed to the architect Daniel Garrett on stylistic grounds, and he was certainly active in the area, but again firm evidence has eluded researchers.

The tower sits on a plain square base but then gains ornament as it rises. The base housed a ‘cow shed’ but above were banqueting rooms, one with gothic detail and one classical. At the top a turret contains a door leading out onto the roof with balustrade and pinnacles. There are extensive views of the River Swale, Richmond Castle and town, and until it was demolished in the 1820s, Yorke’s mansion and extensive gardens. 

Clarkson, the Richmond historian, called the tower ‘The Cumberland Temple’ in 1821 and said it was built ‘in compliment’ to the Duke of Cumberland, who was in command at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 when the Scotch rebels were defeated.

However, an account written some 40 years before Clarkson’s suggests that Cumberland’s role in the War of the Austrian Succession may have caused the tower to be erected. The tourist describes climbing ‘the grass hill to Dettingen which stands upon the summit. It is a very high octagon stone tower… built with great taste.’ The Battle of Dettingen took place in June 1743 and the British troops, with their Hanoverian and Austrian allies, defeated the French at Dettingen in Bavaria. The battle was notable as George II himself led the troops into battle with his son, the Duke of Cumberland, at his side. It is particularly remembered today as since that date no British monarch has led troops into active combat. The victory was widely celebrated at home and Handel wrote the Dettingen Te Deum to mark the occasion.

Which brings The Folly Flâneuse back to music. Performing in the Culloden Tower was harpist Alex Rider, and it was absolutely enchanting. A highlight was a performance of ‘The Magical Aviary’ by Marcel Tournier, not an 18th century piece but apposite as the Yorke family’s Georgian menagerie survives today, just a short distance from the tower. You can see Alex play the piece here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlZiXb7SyEE

The Culloden Tower fell into disrepair in the 1970s and was rescued by The Landmark Trust which completed an exemplary restoration in 1982, including the painstaking recreation of the plasterwork shown above.

Huge thanks to The Landmark Trust, and to the owners of Millgate House, and a private house, for hosting the Secret Salons. Also to the other musicians who were uniformly excellent.

The Culloden Tower can be seen from a permissive footpath accessed from The Green. The Landmark Trust has annual open days, check their website for details https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/culloden-tower-5579#Overview. The menagerie is now a private home and there is no public access.

More Secret Salons are planned for 2020. Keep an eye out for announcements here https://www.richmond.org/georgefest/

And if you do visit you might consider staying, as The Folly Flâneuse did, at the lovely Millgate House, a Georgian House with a wonderful garden which offers seriously good B&B https://www.millgatehouse.com

In the 18th century the Shaw family of textile merchants operated out of the magnificent Piece Hall in Halifax (recently restored and very well worth a visit) https://www.thepiecehall.co.uk.  By the end of the century a new mill had been established at Holywell Green near Stainland, outside Halifax. It was greatly extended in the second half of the 19th century by Samuel Shaw, who also built a new family home nearby, which he called Brooklands. The house was almost ready for occupation in the autumn of 1868 and the grounds were being laid out at the same date. The landscaping included a pond with fountain and a series of 3 curious towers linked by a wall. The Halifax Courier described the scene in 1877, noting that the three towers gave ‘the impression that a castle of somewhat imposing dimensions’  overshadowed the grounds.

As well as masking some farm buildings the towers functioned as summerhouses, housing two ‘rustic apartments’ with ‘quaint chairs’. The openings in the exterior walls were designed as roosts for wild birds, but Shaw probably didn’t have in mind the raucous crows who call the towers home today:

Shaw was passionate about birds and had a museum room in the mansion with cases of stuffed specimens. Within the grounds there were also extensive pens and cages to house a collection of pigeons and pheasants of ‘great rarity’.

There was a also a grotto and a dripping well which was ‘deftly formed’ by the head gardener, a Mr Pybus. Water was fed to the well from a spring in the hillside, flowing over a perforated iron plate which created the dripping effect. Both the grotto and the well were clad with clinker, the incombustible matter left in the mill’s furnaces after burning.

Shaw did not allow smoking in the house but as a consummate host he constructed a Smoking House in the garden. Guests retiring here for pipes or cigars were asked to don velvet jackets and caps to absorb the smell, so that no trace could be detected when they returned to the drawing room. Sadly this building does not survive.

The mansion and many of the associated buildings at Brooklands were demolished in the 1930s and the Shaw family gave the grounds to the people of Elland for use as public park. The  wonderful castle facade survives, but for the usual reasons of vandalism and health and safety the buildings are now fenced-off.

The towers are listed grade II.