Constructed early in the 19th century, this rocky grotto was built in the grounds of Ingleborough Hall, home to the Farrer family. Later it was a favoured spot of Elizabeth Farrer (1853-1937), and has thus became known by the wonderfully comforting name of Aunt Bessie’s Grotto. Here tea was served by the staff, whilst the family enjoyed the wonderful view to Thwaite Scars.

The unusual grotto, constructed out of large weather and water-formed stones, is named as the ‘Station’ on the first edition Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1846-7. The word ‘station’ was popularised by Thomas West in his A Guide to the Lakes, first published in 1778. West recommended a number of viewpoints, or stations, from which the best vistas could be appreciated. However on the tithe map of 1847 it is called the Grotto, and by the end of the century it was marked as such on the revised OS map.

From Clapham village a path runs past a lake (or tarn in Yorkshire parlance), and through the Clapdale glen to the spectacular natural wonders of Trow Gill and Ingleborough Cave. This picturesque route was laid out by the Farrer family from around 1828, and in 1833 it was reported that a new walk was almost complete with a picturesque landscape ‘diversified with hills, rocks, wood, water & a narrow vale’. Although the grotto also dates from this period, there are very few references to it, possibly because most visitors were more interested in describing the sublime natural scenery. A rare mention is made in 1873 when the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics’ Institutes had a summer excursion to Clapham. Arriving at the ivy-clad grotto, which was ‘deliciously cool’, they gave thanks for ‘that taste that has dictated the placing of the grotto in this spot, commanding one of the grandest panoramas’.

Aunt Bessie presumably only resorted to the Grotto in the summer months. Visiting in March it was dank and dripping, and not even a footman with a cup of tea would have made The Folly Flâneuse linger inside.

Bizarrely, the Farrer family of Ingleborough, a Mechanics Institute, a grotto, and the year 1873 all also appear in a completely different story that emerged as The Folly Flâneuse was researching this post.

At the beginning of the 1870s the Mechanics’ Institute of Bradford moved to a marvellous new building (sadly demolished), but the cost of construction left a deficit of £5,000. To raise funds the Art Treasures and Industrial Exhibition was opened in 1873, and over 4 months almost 160,000 people visited the Institute. Alongside the displays of cutting edge technology there were paintings, watercolours and the decorative arts. The Duke of Devonshire lent a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds and the wealthy wool merchants of the area produced an impressive array of works by J.M.W. Turner and other prominent artists. 1/- would buy a cold luncheon, and those with deeper pockets could have a ‘quart of Moet’s champagne for 8 shillings: it probably sold well as the patrons included a duke, a marquess, an earl, a bishop and most of the very affluent gentry and merchants of town.

As an added attraction Mr John Parker of Bowling came up with an ingenious use for a ‘dark useless room’ underneath the lecture hall – a grotto of artificial stone. Entry was via a rocky cavern which emerged into a chamber supported by giant pillars covered in native bark. There was a waterfall which fell into a lake with resident (model) crocodile, and ‘every other object connected with such wonderful places as grottoes’. The lack of ‘natural verdure’ was solved by none other than Mr Farrer of Ingleborough House, who supplied ‘a large quantity of mosses and ferns’ to clothe the rocks. Sadly no photographs of the grotto are known.

As an aside, this ‘Squire Farrer’ of Ingleborough was the great-uncle of one of Britain’s most important plant-hunters and gardeners – Reginald Farrer (1880-1920). Reginald’s parents were James and Elizabeth (the Bessie of grotto fame) who became custodians of Ingleborough in 1889, and Reginald would have known the grotto well. Respected both by the gardening professional and the layman, his My Rock Garden, first published in 1907, was a classic which was in print for decades.

Aunt Bessie’s Grotto can be visited on the Ingleborough Estate Nature Trail, which at the time of writing remains open to visitors. But do check the website before travelling  https://ingleboroughcave.co.uk/nature-trail/

The Fox Tower, just outside Brough in the tiny settlement of Helbeck, is one of those follies built to be both eye-catcher and belvedere. It is a prominent landmark from the long-established road between Scotch Corner and Penrith, now the A66. From the tower there are dramatic views across the Pennines and the Eden Valley. 

The Fox Tower is not shown on Jeffrey’s map of 1770 or mentioned by Hutchinson in his 1773 An Excursion to the Lakes when he dismissed the area as ‘wild and forlorn’. John Metcalfe rebuilt the house at Helbeck (aka Hillbeck) in 1775-77, to a design attributed to the local architect Henry Bellas (or Bellhouse) of Appleby. The Fox Tower was probably built at around the same time and the designer is not known. Perhaps it too was the work of Bellas, but it does not echo the gothic features of the lovely mansion.

The first mention of the tower in print appeared in guidebooks in the first decade of the 19th century, by which time Metcalfe had taken the name of Carleton by Royal licence. Carleton had improved the Helbeck estate, and in the age of the picturesque the extensive prospect from his ‘beautiful seat’ was admired. The tower was described as ‘a romantic circular building on a rock, which projects from other rocks, in a hanging wood’. The building was said to take its name from the number of foxes that made their home in the vicinity.

Inside the tower were two rooms; the lower was fitted out as a kitchen and the upper room, with windows looking to ‘the four points of the compass’, was used for picnics and parties. The roof of the upper room was flat and served as a viewing platform. On the terrace that surrounded the tower Carleton installed seven cannons which he fired off ‘on birth and rejoicing days’. The cannons are long gone but The Folly Flâneuse was sure she could hear their ghostly echoes. Sadly not: it was the heavy artillery on exercises on the adjacent, and vast, Warcop military training area.

Metcalfe also developed a ‘delightfully situated’ cotton mill near Helbeck which opened in 1787. He took great satisfaction in knowing that the enterprise employed ‘almost all the poor people in and about the place’. But the business was not a success and Carleton, something of a colourful character, had left Helbeck by 1802 when the estate was offered for auction.

Fox Tower caught the attention of J.M.W. Turner on a sketching tour in 1831 and his rough drawings, possibly executed in transit, are in the Tate collection https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-fox-tower-near-brough-cumbria-d25589

Each spring the current owners of the Helbeck estate open up a delightful circular walk featuring the grade II listed tower, and primroses and bluebells provide cheer on the steep climb. The Folly Flâneuse scrambled up on the last day of the 2019 season, but watch out for dates in 2020. UPDATE February 2022: the Brough parish newsletter for February 2022 has a note to say that a permissive footpath to the Fox Tower is now open.

Big thanks to Fiona Green for piquing my interest in the Fox Tower.