In the last years of the eighteenth century, Shute Barrington, Bishop of Salisbury, commissioned James Wyatt to carry out repairs to Salisbury Cathedral. In an act that would be described as ‘outrageous’ by later generations, Wyatt removed an ancient porch. The Dean and Chapter, recognising that prominent citizen Henry Penruddocke Wyndham knew how to ‘appreciate such curious monuments of antiquity’, presented him with the ‘elegant remnant’ which he re-erected as a feature in his garden.

The porch is said to have started life as part of a cross in Old Sarum, and was reused as the north porch when the present cathedral was constructed in New Sarum, or Salisbury, in around 1250. According to local histories, the ‘miserably truncated’ cross was covered with a flat roof of lead and functioned as a porch for five centuries until Shute Barrington’s renovations in the late eighteenth century.

As the title photograph shows, the garden ornament is looking a little battered in its old age, but happily an enchanting array of images record its appearance when first moved to its new home.

Wyndham’s family home was St Edmund’s College, a former ecclesiastical building later converted into a private residence. The garden had been laid out to an undated plan by the landscape designer Richard Woods (1715-1793). Woods had suggested that a summerhouse might be placed in a corner of the garden, with a view to the house and church, so Wyndham (1736-1819) knew the perfect spot for the summerhouse and eye-catcher he created by embellishing the ancient cross.

It was Wyatt himself who oversaw the taking down of the porch and its re-erecting in Wyndham’s garden. The porch was dismantled in May 1791 and carted to Wyndham’s grounds. During the summer Wyatt’s masons carved 2 pinnacles (the others were presumably salvaged from the cathedral works) and cut stone to make the spire, with work complete by September when Wyatt submitted his bill for £33.7.6.

A Latin inscription on a sheet of lead was placed over the east arch inside the building. It is long gone, but it is known to have recorded that the porch was rebuilt in Wyndham’s garden in 1791, having formerly stood in Old Sarum and then at Salisbury Cathedral.

Wyndham’s house and grounds were sold in the late nineteenth century, with much of the land being developed for housing. The house and ten acres of garden were purchased by the Reverend George Hugh Bourne, who lived there until his death in 1925.

In 1927, on the 700th anniversary of Salisbury receiving its charter, the house and grounds on Bourne Hill were purchased by the city to create new municipal offices. The park was opened to the public and the porch, by now shaded by trees, became known to some locally as the Devil’s Arch.

Earlier this year work was carried out to restore the porch (grade II). Rusting iron clamps were removed, and old cement repairs were replaced with lime mortar. Note that although local histories date the porch to the days of Old Sarum, the information boards in Bourne Hill Gardens call it the ’15th Century Porch’.

This remarkable survival deserves to be better known, so do visit if you are in the area. Bourne Hill Gardens (grade II) are always open. Bourne Hill continues to house offices of Wiltshire County Council. St Edmund’s Church is now an arts centre.

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In 1848 a brief note in local newspapers announced that a ‘lofty tower’ had been erected on Farleigh Down. Commanding the ‘most extensive and magnificent prospects’, the tower was built by Wade Browne, who had recently settled at Monkton Farleigh. The tower stands in Wiltshire – although very close to the border with Somerset.

Wade Browne (1796-1851) was living at Monkton Farleigh by 1837 when his wife, Anne, died leaving him with a young family. Browne’s memorial in the village church notes his ‘active benevolence and conscientious discharge of Christian duty’ and he is remembered for improving the village roads and water supply, and for endowing a new school. It has been suggested that building the tower might have been another philanthropic gesture to provide local employment.

The tower was completed in 1848, adding ‘a decidedly picturesque feature to the scenery of the vicinity’. Inside, a narrow stone staircase climbed up to a single room at the top from which the view could be appreciated.

When first erected the tower stood on a bare hill, and could be seen from many miles around. Today the slope is heavily wooded, and only the top of the tower can be seen from below.

Browne was well-known in the area as he was active in local affairs and served as High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1845. His prospect tower quickly became known as Browne’s Folly, and is named as such on the Ordnance Survey map published in 1889. Over the next few decades many a tall tale was told of why the tower was erected in the first place, and in the 1930s the local newspapers were filled with anecdotes about the tower. One legend had it that Browne built it so that he could keep an eye on his flirtatious wife when she was out hunting. Another told that Browne built it to hide from the ‘fairer sex, who, he imagined, were after him for his money’. As the journalist concluded, this ‘is the best story of all, and is by far the least likely to be true’.

Luckily, we have the word of Browne’s second wife, Selina, to settle the matter: she didn’t sneak off to meet a lover when hunting, and he was not escaping from the local ladies. Browne built it as a belvedere, but as Selina wrote it didn’t quite go to plan: he ‘expected to see the Bristol Channel from the room above, but I fancy hills intervening prevented it’. Perhaps the Channel was missing from the panorama, but those who climbed the tower could see the Mendips, the Wiltshire downs, the Cotswolds and into Wales. There was also a view to an earlier eye-catcher – King Alfred’s Tower at Stourhead.

An article in the journal of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1855 notes that a sculptured slab, excavated from the remains of the Cluniac priory at Monkton Farleigh in 1841, was displayed in ‘Mr Wade Browne’s Tower’. This suggests that Browne perhaps used the base of the tower as a museum of antiquities. Sadly it’s a fleeting reference, and no further records of how the tower was furnished or decorated seem to survive.

Browne died in 1851 and later that century the estate was purchased by Sir Charles Hobhouse. In 1907 he restored the tower and erected a new plaque commemorating both his work, and that of Browne as the original builder (now eroded). Hobhouse is said to have used the tower for shooting lunches, but as the cynical journalist quoted earlier wrote, it must have been ‘rather trying for a tired shooting party to have to climb to such dizzy heights for a bite of refreshment’.

Monkton Farleigh remains the seat of the Hobhouse family, but the tower and surrounding land was sold to the Avon Wildlife Trust in 1972. With vandalism a huge problem, the trust approached the Folly Fellowship, the charity which aims to protect, preserve and promote follies, grottoes and garden buildings, asking if they might be able to help. In 1998 the Trustees  of the Folly Fellowship agreed to take ownership of the folly, and an appeal was launched to raise funds to repair the roof and fit a secure door, with work completed the following summer.

Patrick Todd, a trustee of the Folly Fellowship, has sent this update: The tower has recently been the subject of trespass, vandalism and damage which is a continuing problem. Signs have been put up to warn entry is not permitted and could be dangerous. Efforts are also being made to keep the tower secure, but these are likely to be temporary due to the determined efforts of the vandals. We are in touch with locals who have very kindly cleaned up graffiti, but a long term solution needs to be found which would probably involve the community, local groups, and conservation bodies. We are currently considering various options for the building, and would like to make it safe and accessible, preserving this much loved and visible monument for the future. If you would like to help in any way, please contact Patrick Todd at welbat66@gmail.com

The tower is almost impossible to photograph today (by an amateur with an iPhone) as it is surrounded by trees, so apologies for the wonky title image, and thanks to everyone who has helped with historic views.

Thank you for reading. The Flâneuse is always happy to hear from readers, please scroll down to the comments box to share any thoughts. 

]]> https://thefollyflaneuse.com/brownes-folly-monkton-farleigh-wiltshire/feed/ 5 14894 https://thefollyflaneuse.com/the-gothic-cottage-stourhead-wiltshire/ https://thefollyflaneuse.com/the-gothic-cottage-stourhead-wiltshire/#comments Fri, 11 Apr 2025 08:21:02 +0000 https://thefollyflaneuse.com/?p=8881 Wandering in the glorious landscape that is Stourhead in Wiltshire there are vistas to grand classical temples and gothic monuments,...]]>

Wandering in the glorious landscape that is Stourhead in Wiltshire there are vistas to grand classical temples and gothic monuments, but there is also a pastoral scene featuring a pretty little rustic cottage which has inspired artists – from painters to designers of tourist souvenirs – over the centuries.

Stourhead, one of the most famous landscape gardens in Britain, probably needs little introduction here, but in brief it was created by the Hoare family in the eighteenth century. A grand lake is crossed by an elegant bridge, and a walk around the water leads to features including a grotto and classical temples as well as offering vistas to gothic ornaments and a sun-topped obelisk.

The cottage has been described by many names since it was first constructed in the middle of the eighteenth century. There is a reference to Pantheon Cottage, and it is also mentioned as the Rustic Cottage or Arcadian Cottage. For many years it was called the Watch Cottage, most likely because it was home to a keeper, but it is now known as the Gothic Cottage. As the watercolour below shows, the picturesque little building was overgrown with creeping plants such as woodbine and clematis, commonly found in cottage gardens.

Around the turn of the nineteenth century the cottage was in frequent use as a summer retreat, with a comfortable sitting room for the ladies of the house. In this period the thatched roof was replaced with stone slates.

In 1946 the Hoare family gave the house and grounds to the National Trust, and the charity’s early guidebooks and maps called the rustic house the Watch Cottage.

The cottage was restored in 2007 and the roof covered with thatch to return it to its original appearance. The Folly Flâneuse dreams of living in such a rural retreat, but only after the crowds have gone home: in 2023-2024 over 370,000 visitors were able to wander around the lake and past the Gothic Cottage. But as an obsessive collector of all things folly, she can gaze upon it in various iterations from the comfort of her desk…

This little pottery model of the ‘Gothick Cottage’ was made for the National Trust by the Boncath Pottery in 1979. The design is by ‘Dorn Williams’ – Miss Dorn Williams produced other decorative and commemorative pieces for the National Trust.

In 1983 Ian Logan Ltd produced a series of tins featuring National Trust properties. Bill Dare produced the illustration used on this tin, which was ‘based on the Gothic Cottage, Stourhead’. Note that both the model above and this tin show the cottage with the slate roof that was in place at the time they were made.

Sometime towards the end of the 1980s the Flâneuse bought a ceramic model of the Gothic Cottage ‘in the tradition of the pastille burners made by the Staffordshire potters early in the nineteenth century’. It was made at the Gladstone Pottery Museum, Stoke on Trent, for a company called Recollections Ltd (the recollections of the Flâneuse stretch no further than that). Although the cottage is modelled with a thatched roof, this was acknowledged as artistic licence by the maker.

For more on Stourhead click here.

Thank you for reading. Please scroll down to the comments box if you wish to share any thoughts or further information. 

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.

The bridge has been painted by many artists over the centuries including Richard Wilson, John Singer Sargent, Sir John Lavery and Winston Churchill.

But the artist for whom it provided the greatest inspiration was Rex Whistler. Whistler’s archive is in the collection at The Salisbury Museum, where a most enjoyable exhibition, Rex Whistler: The Artist and his Patrons, can be seen until the 24th September 2024.

In May 1925 Whistler first visited Wilton  to stay with his friend Edith Olivier, who lived in Daye House within the park. He was entranced, and later wrote to Edith to say that he could still ‘see in my mind’s eye all the intoxicating beautiful spots you showed me’.

Making the greatest impression was the Palladian Bridge, and within a year he had included it in his first major mural commission, In Pursuit of Rare Meats, which decorated the walls of a new restaurant at the Tate Gallery, London.

The bridge also made an appearance in Whistler’s mural for Sir Philip Sassoon at Port Lympne in Kent, and his preparatory drawing is included in the Salisbury exhibition.

Whistler became a regular visitor to Wilton. In 1927 he and his fellow ‘bright young things’ Cecil Beaton and Stephen Tennant were at the grand party to celebrate the coming-of-age of Sidney Herbert. Edith Olivier wrote in her diary that ‘all the beauties of England were there’ and the scene must have been enchanting as a ‘searchlight played on the Palladian Bridge’ and lit up the trees beyond.

In July 1933 Edith Olivier was visited by Lady Ottoline Morrell who took photographs of what was affectionately known to family and friends at Wilton as ‘the Palladian’.

Whistler was given a commission in the Welsh Guards in 1940, but he visited Wilton whilst on leave and continued to paint scenes including the Palladian Bridge. These would be his final views of Wilton: his division was sent to France in June 1944 and he was killed in action on 18 July 1944.

The Rex Whistler exhibition continues until 24 September and is highly recommended. The museum is close to the famed Salisbury Cathedral, and other nearby attractions are Mompesson House (National Trust) and Arundells, the former home of Edward Heath. For more on the museum https://salisburymuseum.org.uk and for Salisbury’s many attractions see https://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/salisbury/things-to-do

The 2024 season at Wilton House ends on 12 September https://www.wiltonhouse.co.uk

Thank you for reading and please get in touch with any thoughts. The comments box can be found at the foot of the page.

Sir Charles Barry is usually remembered as the architect of grand Victorian edifices like the Palace of Westminster, and for remodelling country houses such as Trentham in Staffordshire and Harewood in Yorkshire. But he was also happy to take on smaller projects, and in 1845 this elegant obelisk was erected to his design in a distant corner of the Bowood estate of the Marquess of Lansdowne.

Curiously, the monument, is completely plain, with no ornament or inscription, and only half a century after its erection by Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, the 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863) no-one knew quite why it was there.

It was not until the early 20th century that its genesis and purpose were rediscovered by the 6th Marquess of Lansdowne (1872-1936). Lord Lansdowne, a man of ‘a retiring, scholarly disposition’, found the accounts for its erection in the family archives at Bowood. These confirmed Barry as the architect, and Messrs Daniel and Charles Jones of Bradford upon Avon as the builders, with a total budget of £1359. Barry had worked for the 3rd Marquess of Landsowne at Bowood, in Wiltshire, in the 1830s, so would have been the natural choice when the Marquess decided to erect a monument on an escarpment on the downs.

In the 1920s the antiquarian Marquess discovered a second document in the family papers – a draft inscription in the hand of Louisa, 3rd Marchioness (1785-1851). At last there was confirmation that the obelisk was commissioned to commemorate Sir William Petty (1627-1684), an economist, scientist, anatomist and founder of the Lansdowne family fortune. The plan was for the obelisk to carry the following words:

To the Memory
of Sir William Petty, Knight
Son of John Petty Clothier
To whose exalted understanding
And indefatigable industry
This Country was indebted
For the foundation of science
Which he laid
And his family
Not less for the example which he gave
Than for the inheritance he bequeathed them
This Obelisk is dedicated
By his grateful descendant
Henry Marquis of Lansdowne

The 6th Marquess surmised that the proposed inscription was abandoned in favour of marking the burial place of Sir William in Romsey Abbey, Hampshire, where a recumbent effigy by Westmacott was installed in 1858.

The obelisk has long been a popular destination for visitors, particularly as it sits alongside two other important landscape features: Oldbury Castle, an ancient hill fort, and one of the famed White Horse chalk figures.

In 1988 the obelisk was bought by the National Trust, and two years later a restoration was undertaken with funds from a public appeal and the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission. Sadly, the stone used was not as durable as the original, and it soon began to wear away. In 2013 the National Trust erected hoardings around the monument to protect visitors from falling masonry.

There were hopes locally that the grade II* listed monument could be restored in time for its 175th birthday in 2020, but that deadline passed, and instead the anniversary was marked by an application for the hoardings to remain in place for a further five years. Permission was granted, but with the proviso that the monument would be restored ‘to its former unadulterated condition on or before 1 March 2025’.

In late September 2021 the Folly Flâneuse asked the National Trust for an update, and was told: ‘We are planning to commence feasibility work during autumn 2021, which will give us a realistic idea of the cost of work required’. The local community is very proud of the landmark, and is poised to support the restoration in any way it can.

The National Trust recently announced (August 2021) the completion of the restoration of the Wellington Monument in Somerset. It took two years and £3.1 million to repair that obelisk, the tallest of its kind in the world. Let’s hope the expert craftspersons who worked on the project can soon be redeployed in Wiltshire.

And now a quick plug for an organisation which the Folly Flâneuse greatly admires: the photo’ at the top of the page appears courtesy of ArtUK. You may know ArtUK’s excellent work in digitising oil paintings in public collections. Recently, they have widened their remit, as Deputy Director Katey Goodwin explains: ‘Since 2017 we have been running a major project to digitise sculpture in collections and outside in our parks, squares and countryside. The public sculpture element of the project has a wide remit. As well as recording statues and monuments, we have recorded clock towers, gateways, street furniture and many other memorials and outdoor artworks across the UK’. Make yourself a coffee and enjoy a happy hour browsing the collection https://artuk.org

Thank you for reading, and please scroll down to the comments box if you would like to share any thoughts or further information.

The arrival of an updated volume in the Buildings of England series is always a cause for celebration. Better known simply as ‘Pevsners’, after Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983), the author of the earliest volumes, the books are regularly revised. The latest volume to be painstakingly brought up to date covers the county of Wiltshire, and is the work of Julian Orbach. The first edition of the Wiltshire volume appeared in 1963, and was close to Pevsner’s heart, as he had a home in Clyffe Pypard where he and his family spent much of their time: his dedication calls Wiltshire ‘the county of the cottage’.

Pevsner was always keen to include the garden ornaments that embellished the landscapes of great houses in his volumes, and in Wiltshire there were plenty of outstanding parks: Bowood, Wardour, Fonthill and Wilton to name but a few. And of course Stourhead, which Pevsner ranked alongside Stowe as ‘the best place in England to enthuse in landscaped grounds and garden furnishings’ (a very Pevsnerian phrase). But it is in discussing a lesser known landscape ornament that Pevsner’s dry style is best illustrated. At Wick Hill, near Bremhill, stands the Maud Heath Monument. As the legend goes, Maud Heath was a ‘public-spirited old pedlar woman’ who became very wealthy. In 1474 she created a trust to fund the construction of a causeway from Wick Hill to Chippenham, and an endowment for its future maintenance.

Centuries later the 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863) of nearby Bowood House, and William Lisle Bowles (1762-1850), vicar of Bremhill, two of the Trustees of Maud Heath’s Charity, erected a column topped with a seated figure of Maud. Bowles composed the poem which features in the inscription:

Thou who dost pause on this aerial hight [sic]
Where MAUD HEATH’s Pathway winds in shade or light,
Christian Wayfarer in a world of strife
Be STILL and ponder on the Path of Life.

Bowles composed sonnets which were admired by the young Coleridge, but later in life, as his poems grew from 14 to over 2,000 lines (his publisher, John Murray, unsuccessfully suggested that his compositions might be condensed a little), his work fell out of favour.

Work began on the column in October 1837, and was completed the following year. A stone chair was erected at the same date, but broken by vandals soon after. The ‘handsome reward’ which was offered presumably led to information on the culprits, and as this drawing by Charles George Harper (1892-1933) shows the chair was restored and it remains in place today. The sculptor of the odd, but rather endearing, depiction of Maud and her basket of wares is not known, but occasional restoration work has kept her looking her best – including after she literally lost her head in a storm in 1990. Trees now obscure the full panorama, but Maud certainly enjoys an extensive prospect.

To return to Nikolaus Pevsner: he was no fan of the stanza or the sculptor, and his wonderful deadpan conclusion was that ‘The quality of the poetry matches that of the statue’.

Maud Heath has given her name to a vineyard close to her monument. It seemed only right that The Folly Flâneuse should toast Maud Heath and everyone who has contributed to a ‘Pevsner’ over the years.

The new Wiltshire volume contains follies and landscape ornaments that have been built in the years since Pevsner’s death in 1963 (he is buried with his wife in the churchyard at Clyffe Pypard). To pick just two: in the first years of the present century Sir Henry and Lady Keswick erected a stunning glass pyramid, to a design by I.M. Pei, at Oare House. Completely different in character is Colin’s Barn near Chedglow, a rustic, organic, labour of love built by Colin Stokes in the last decade of the 20th century, and recently listed by Historic England.

An early Pevsner would fit in your pocket. After updates by Bridget Cherry in 1975, and now Julian Orbach, a backpack might be in order, but it will be worth the effort. For more on the new Wiltshire volume, which is published on 8 June, see https://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?k=9780300251203

There’s more on Maud Heath and her philanthropy here https://bremhillparishhistory.com/article/maud-heaths-causeway/

Oare House and Colin’s Barn are private. Maud Heath’s monument has full public access.

If you would like to share any thoughts please scroll down to the comments section at the bottom of the page. Thank you for reading.