In 1987 Save Britain’s Heritage, the charity which campaigns to save historic buildings from needless destruction, published Pavilions in Peril, a report into the great number of garden buildings in Britain that faced an uncertain future. In drawing attention to historic buildings that are vacant and whose future is uncertain, the charity hoped to identify new owners able to repair and/or find a new use for the structures, thus securing their future. 33 years after that report was written The Folly Flâneuse is delighted to write that there have been some fabulous restorations (see link below to an earlier post), but read on for the not-so-good news…

The report’s author, Julia Abel Smith, researched 54 case studies, and sadly two of the featured structures have disappeared forever. The classical Temple to Pitt at Coleby Hall in Lincolnshire, was described in 1987 as being ‘a very sad sight’, and it was demolished in the 1990s. Although it looks fairly substantial in this postcard view, it was actually wood plastered to look like stone, and therefore less able to withstand the elements.

The Bark Temple at Exton in Leicestershire, a rustic wooden summerhouse which had been deteriorating for some years, finally collapsed in 1997. There will be more on this fascinating lost building in a forthcoming guest post.

Two years after the report was published SAVE introduced a Buildings at Risk Register, and two of the buildings featured in Pavilions in Peril remain on that list today.

Despite attempts to secure its future, the Umbrello, on the privately-owned Great Saxham estate in Suffolk, has spent 33 years in peril. It is of particular interest as not only is it an unusual design, but it is built of Coade Stone, the celebrated artificial stone developed by Mrs Coade at her factory in Lambeth. Originally constructed in the late 18th or early 19th century, its design is based on a Batty Langley pattern and a Historic England report of 2001 concluded that Great Saxham may not have been its first home. There’s a link to the full report below.

Near Chichester in Sussex, stands the derelict Racton Tower, which is also on SAVE’s Buildings at Risk Register. It was designed by Theodosius Keene for the 2nd Earl of Halifax and complete by around 1770. The hilltop folly (described by Horace Walpole as ‘a very ugly Tower’) was built to take advantage of extensive views across the downs to the Isle of Wight and beyond, and as an eye-catcher from Lord Halifax’s seat at Stansted House. In the year Pavilions in Peril was published it was bought by a private owner who planned to turn it into a private house. Planning permission was granted some years ago, but has since expired, and at the time of writing a new application, from the same very patient owner, is being considered by the South Downs National Park Planning Authority.

Other buildings featured in the report remain in need of rescue. In 1987 the Belvedere at Sketty, near Swansea, was unlisted and derelict. Probably designed by the architect William Jernegan in the early 19th century, the folly contains a lovely vaulted chamber with its roof supported by a single column (likely inspired by the nearby Chapter House at Margam).

The building has the inscription ESTO PERPETUO (May it stand forever), which is somewhat ironic given its current condition, although nicely relevant when one learns that when it was conveyed to Swansea City Council there was a covenant attached forbidding demolition. The house at Sketty was demolished in 1975 and the belvedere is now surrounded by the modern housing that was built in its park. In 2015 the cash-strapped Swansea Council sold the building at auction; the sum realised was reported to be £130,000. However plans to restore the (now grade II listed) folly as a dwelling have been scuppered by a colony of bats, and it remains boarded-up and neglected.

In Yorkshire the temple at Whitley Beaumont, near Huddersfield, was thought to have a bleak future as it had lost its roof, and the fine chamber beneath was filling with rubble. Happily it still stands, although it has continued to slowly deteriorate under the combined force of vandals, the elements, and total loss of raison d’être: the estate was requisitioned for mining during the Second World War and the mansion demolished in 1952 . Attributed to James Paine, the temple was probably constructed in the early 1750s when the Beaumont family’s mansion was being remodelled. A grand terrace walk, edged with flowering shrubs, terminated at the temple from which there were extensive views. In the 1770s the building was home to a telescope and visitors were invited to admire the distant views from the elevated site, which (as reputed of every prospect tower in Yorkshire) included a view to York Minster. When invited to admire the view one guest, clearly an old hand at dealing with the boasts of owners, announced that he could most certainly see the mighty church: experience had taught him that when he found his hosts ‘resolutely determined that I shall see a thing, I always see it immediately to save trouble.’ The temple now stands rather forlornly on the edge of a quarry, as a reminder of how great the estate once was.

If you are feeling a little despondent now, see last week’s post for the good news https://thefollyflaneuse.com/pavilions-in-peril-part-i-pavilions-preserved/

This is only a selection from the buildings featured in Pavilions in Peril, but it is still in print at the absolute bargain price of £5 and is well worth the investment. You can buy it and learn more about SAVE here https://www.savebritainsheritage.org/publications/publications-in-print/3 

For the full report on the Umbrella at Great Saxham follow this link https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=15025&ru=%2FResults.aspx%3Fp%3D549

Feedback is always welcome, please scroll down to find the comments section. Thank you for reading.

Above the village of Longwood, just outside Huddersfield, there stands what can only be described as a strange stump of a building. This is the  Longwood Tower, built by local men without formal design or architect, in time for the intriguingly-named Longwood Thump of 1861.

The Thump was the name given to the local holiday celebration, and the name is peculiar to Longwood. Nearby Kirkheaton had its annual Rant, and Almondbury a Rush, whilst Honley was a little more transparent with its Feast. At each games were played, picnics were eaten, and the ale flowed. In 1861, when the Longwood Tower (also known as the Nab End Tower) was built, there was considerable hardship in the area with many men out of work ‘during the manufacturing distress’. The unemployed men used their time to build ‘the conspicuous tower’ with the permission of the landowner, William Shaw of Botham Hall, and using stone from the adjacent quarry.

‘A Novel Erection’, ran the headline in the local paper, the Huddersfield Examiner, in August 1861. From the start the building was considered a ‘curious affair’, with its great mass of dry stones, but it formed the centrepiece of the Thump with feasting and fireworks lasting several days. The rustic date stone of 1861 is accompanied by the initials G.H. for George Hellawell, a stonemason who lived in the village and supervised the building. George Collier of Milnsbridge wrote lines to celebrate the opening:

On Longwood Edge there stands a Tower,
that end near Quarmby Clough,
and if you stand out by the church,
you’ll see it plain enough.
This Tower was built by men and boys
of Longwood, that is true,
and if you want the height of it
it’s twenty-nine feet two.
So come my lads and lasses gay,
come, and join the throng,
we’ll have a spree this Longwood Thump
in eighteen sixty-one.

The tower provided a backdrop to cricket matches between local teams, including the Lumb Challenge Cup of 1889 where ‘the mighty Armitage Bridge crumbled to small pieces, and fell a ruined wreck in sight of the mythical structure of Longwood Tower’. The Athletic News reporter joked that the victors, Cliffe End, had the edge because the ‘Bridgers’ were unused to the altitude of the ground and were exhausted by the walk up the steep slope.

In 1895 the Shaw family gave the tower and the surrounding land to the people of Huddersfield as a recreation ground. Three years later they paid for the already deteriorating tower (throwing the loose stones down the hill was apparently a favourite pastime) to be consolidated, but payment was accompanied with the proviso that it was then the sole responsibility of the town council.

The Longwood Thump had always involved music, and as well as Brass Bands there were choral performances, called ‘sings’. Longwood’s pioneering role in the development of this local tradition, led to their annual event becoming known as ‘the Mother of all Sings’. A hollow just below the tower was developed as an outdoor concert hall, although crowds overflowed across the whole hilltop: crowds were estimated at 5,000 at the 1893 event when Handel’s Messiah was among the works performed.

At a time when fundraising for the National Health Service has been very much in the news, thanks to the efforts of Captain Sir Tom Moore and others, it is worth remembering the days when there was no free healthcare, and charity was often the only hope. The Longwood Sing of 1869 was in aid of Samuel Shaw, an elderly music-lover who was sick. In 1896 the Sing raised funds for the Huddersfield Infirmary, and the organisers expressed a hope that surrounding districts would follow their lead. As the programme above illustrates, the sings have continued to raise funds for good causes.

It’s doubtful if the builders of 1861 expected their tower to be standing more than 150 years later, or thought that a British Prime Minister would one day climb up to their tower for the annual Sing, as Huddersfield-born Harold Wilson did in 1973*. In 2008 the Longwood Tower was restored by Kirklees Council at a cost of £200,000. Bullen Conservation inserted specialist anchors, or ties, to hold the building together and prevent collapse. It remains a popular spot, and long may the singing continue.

* Technically a former and future Prime Minster: Wilson had been PM 1964-70, and would return to office the year after his visit, serving as PM in 1974-76.

In 1920 the Yorkshire Post published a letter about a mysterious cave, or grotto, at West Nab on moorland above Meltham on the western edge of Yorkshire. The correspondent believed the structure had been built around 1500 years earlier as the dwelling of the pagan god Baal – hence it’s being known as ‘Bellman’s Castle’.
The building’s true history is more prosaic. In around 1750 R.H. Beaumont of nearby Whitley Beaumont built a banqueting house for the use of he and his friends when they were shooting on the moor. It featured a huge stone slab of a table around which 20 could dine. Beaumont’s Castle had perhaps been misheard or misinterpreted as ‘Bellman Castle’ by the time the 1st edition ordnance survey map was published in 1854.

It was however imbued with romance and fantasy from the very start. In 1751 a visitor was confident it ‘resembles ye Habitations of the Druids in ye Scotch Islands’.

This 1920 photograph shows it was already in poor condition by that date.