architecture, Folly, garden history

Barbara Jones, ‘Follies & Grottoes’, 1974.

Jones's view of Clytha Castle, near Abergavenny.

In 1953 Barbara Jones published Follies & Grottoes, a ‘handsome book on a fascinating subject’. It was the first book to look at follies in any depth, and was well-received. Almost twenty years later it was announced that there would be a revised edition, for whilst the first edition was remembered as a pioneering book, it was ‘not a comprehensive survey’. Upon publication in November 1974 (fifty years ago this week) the new edition was judged ‘double the size and more than twice as good’.

architecture, belvedere, East Riding of Yorkshire, eyecatcher, Folly, garden, landscape, Summerhouse, Temple, Tower

Carnaby Temple, Boynton Hall, near Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire

‘An ill-treated folly’, wrote folly supremo Barbara Jones of the Carnaby Temple in 1953. The late 18th century landscape ornament, on high land above Boynton Hall, was by then disused and dilapidated, but remarkably intact considering the years of neglect. And so it remains.

architecture, belvedere, East Riding of Yorkshire, eyecatcher, Folly, garden, landscape, Tower

Bettison’s Folly, Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire

In 1829 William Bettison Esq. purchased a country retreat on Newbegin in Hornsea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. From here, he commuted by phaeton to Hull, where during his career he was owner of the Humber Street Brewery and proprietor of the Hull Advertiser. The house came with ‘extensive Pleasure Grounds’ and some time around 1844 he constructed this curious tower built of what are called treacle bricks, over-baked rejects from the kiln.