In 1950 the Automobile Association (A.A.) published a handbook for drivers which included maps and a gazetteer of the towns and villages of England and Wales (Scotland had its own association). As post-war paper shortages eased, a new expanded edition was published in 1958 which included illustrations of the sites a motorist might expect to see as they travelled sedately along the roads of Britain (as the maps make clear the motorway network was then at a very early stage of development). Alongside the churches, monuments, castles, historic pubs, chalk figures and gibbets there are more than thirty follies for the driver to spot along his way.

By the time the Flâneuse’s 1961 copy of The Illustrated Road Book to England and Wales (a battered family heirloom) was published, more than 450,000 copies had been supplied to A.A. members, along with the distinctive yellow badge to display on the car.

Whilst the atlas and guide contains everything the driver needs to know about motoring, mileages and market days, it doesn’t give any clues as to who compiled the comprehensive gazetteer, which ranges from Abberton to Zennor, so the Flâneuse is unable to give credit.

The illustrators too remain anonymous, although we do know how the images were sourced. For four years A.A. members of staff photographed anything of interest they saw, and these images were handed to the artists. As the introduction explains, using sketches allowed ‘some of the more obtrusive features of modern life’ to be omitted – so the reader wouldn’t be offended by a TV aerial or an ugly modern streetlight.

The author of the introduction struck a melancholy note when they mused that some of the landmarks illustrated might have disappeared by the time a new edition was published. Local improvements, they wrote, ‘seem so frequently to obliterate the picturesque.’

The Flâneuse is pleased to report that of the many follies featured in the guide almost all survive, including the small selection pictured above.

There have only been two major casualties – an eye-catching toll-house in Berkshire (above) and the Westwick Arch in Norfolk, described as ‘formerly the main entrance to the Westwick Estate’.

As this has been a rather monochrome post, here is an example of the A.A.’s very own contribution to landscape ornament – the black and vibrant yellow phone boxes that could once be found across Britain. All are now redundant, and only a handful survive in their original locations, brightening the roadside. This one is in Mere in Cheshire.

As ever, the Flâneuse found herself wandering off subject into the fascinating history of the A.A. As the 1961 edition of the Road Book was published, it was announced that members would soon miss out on the famous salute from a passing A.A. patrolman. In that year the practice was discontinued as dangerous, although pedestrian patrolmen were still permitted to greet members in this way. There’s a great potted history of the A.A. here.

The Flâneuse salutes her readers and wishes them a safe journey if they are travelling this weekend. Your thoughts are always welcome, please scroll down to the comments box to get in touch.

On a hilltop near the village of Hermitage, a few miles from Newbury, are the remains of an early Iron Age hillfort which became known as Grimsbury Castle. Close by is a battlemented structure, also called Grimsbury Castle, but this one only pretends to antiquity, being a diminutive sham castle built to house a gamekeeper.The two ‘fortifications’, ancient and modern, were once part of the manor of Hampstead Norris (sometimes Hamstead, sometimes Norryes). The estate was in the ownership of Sir John Gallini and his descendants from the middle of the 18th century until it was sold in 1838.

Gallini (1728-1805) has an interesting history: he arrived in England from Italy in around 1757 and worked as a dancer and choreographer. Later in life he was a well-known impresario on the London theatre scene and in 1763 he entered into the upper echelons of British society through his marriage to Lady Elizabeth Peregrine Bertie, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Abingdon. Through this union Gallini acquired an estate at Yattendon, which included the manor of Hampstead Norris.

An exact date for the construction of the lodge has not been found, but it was probably built during Sir John’s lifetime when he is known to have employed a gamekeeper (Thomas Milson was in post in 1799). He died in 1805 and it took many years for the wrangling over his estates and fortune to be settled, with trustees in control of the estate. So it seems unlikely that such a bold and expensive building would have been commissioned in that period. The ‘important Freehold estates of the Gallini family’ were eventually offered for sale in October 1838 and lot 25 included the ‘keeper’s lodge known as Grimsbury Castle surrounded by one of the best preserves for game’. The auctioneers considered the parcel of land ‘a beautiful site for a residence’.

Happily the plot was not developed, and Grimsbury Castle continued as home to a gamekeeper into the 20th century and remains a private house today. The land it stands on is protected as part of the site of the camp, a scheduled ancient monument, but the sham castle lodge is not listed.

The remains of the fort and the very picturesque Grimsbury Castles, iron age fort and 18th century folly, can easily be seen from public roads and from permissive footpaths courtesy of landowners the Eling Estate.

Thank you for reading, and if you have any thoughts or further information please scroll down to the comments box to get in touch (only your name will appear online, your email address remains private).