The palatial mansion of Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, is set in a landscape ornamented with towers and temples, pyramids and pavilions. One of the earliest is this slim, elegant structure pierced with an arch. Originally an eye-catcher, it later became an object on a drive to the house, but now once more stands alone on a swathe of green in a tranquil corner of the park.

Thomas Watson-Wentworth (1693-1750), created Baron Malton in 1728 (and then Earl of Malton 1734 and 1st Marquess of Rockingham 1746), kept a careful note of expenditure on his estate, and noted improvements in a volume which survives in the family archive. His summary of activity in 1722-1733 included the building of what was then known simply as ‘Obelisk in Lee Wood’, but was later nicknamed ‘the Needle’s Eye’ as apparently the slim arch was thought to resemble the eye of a needle.

The obelisk (remembering that obelisk and pyramid were used interchangeably in the 18th century for any tapering 3 or 4 sided structure) is shown on an engraving of 1728, so must therefore have been built between 1722 and 1728, making it the earliest of the fanciful erections in the vast park. It is contemporary with work on the Baroque west front, and predates the building of the great Palladian east front.

The square plantations of Lee Wood flanked the eye-catcher, and channeled views to the obelisk. One of the series of views of the estate painted for the family in the middle of the 18th century (private collection, not pictured), shows the tapering structure, cut through with a slim arch with woodland to each side. It could therefore only be seen from limited positions, and this is most likely why it was missed by many visitors, and is barely mentioned in contemporary accounts. A rare exception is the agriculturalist writer Arthur Young who visited in 1768  and saw ‘the arch’, which he thought was ‘raised as an object to decorate the view from the Ionic Temple’.

The Ionic Temple sits on the great terrace which was constructed in 1735-6 along the southern edge of the garden. So Young got it a little wrong, as the Needle’s Eye predates the Ionic Temple, but his account does back up contemporary map evidence that there was a vista between the two buildings, now sadly lost.

Towards the end of the 18th century the Needle’s Eye became a feature on a new drive from Rainborough Lodge on the northern edge of the estate (fans of geometry in gardens might be interested to know that Rainborough Lodge, the Needle’e Eye, North Lodge and the Ionic Temple can be linked with a dead straight line). Also known as the Lion Gate, because it features two large … stone lions, the lodge was built to a design by John Carr in the last years of the 18th century. It survives today, although the drive was later abandoned, leaving the obelisk once more as an isolated landscape feature.

By the time the first Ordnance Survey map was published the folly had become known as the ‘Needle’s Eye’, and is marked as such on the 1st series map of 1841. This was a fairly common nickname for structures cut through with an arch in the Victorian period, and was also used for a pyramidal lodge at Nostell Priory (see link below), and Thornhill Lodge at Calverley, both in Yorkshire.

In 1849 a group of excursionists (the name coined for groups taking day trips on the new railways) arrived at Darfield Station. They walked to the Rainborough Lodge, and on up to the ‘Needle’s Eye, an arabesque monument’, and took advantage of the seats inside the arch before exploring Wentworth. The prospectus for their excursion also tells that the pyramid was ‘surmounted by an earl’s coronet’. This description of the Needle’s Eye seems to have been taken from a piece published in the Leeds Mercury a few years earlier, and which remains something of a puzzle. The 1728 view shows it topped by an urn, and a decorative urn can be seen today. Was there once a coronet, or is the article simply mistaken? The mystery remains to be solved.

As ever, a seemingly useless landscape feature needs a good back story. Local legend tells that the building was erected so that the 1st Marquess of Rockingham could prove his boast that he could drive a carriage ‘through the eye of a needle’. Another version has it that guiding a horse and trap through the arch was a right of passage for young apprentices in the stable-yard, hoping to win promotion. No-one knows if there is truth in any of the tales, but they continue to entertain.

The grade II* listed Needle’s Eye is in the care of the Fitzwilliam Wentworth Amenity Trust, and was restored fairly recently. There is full access, courtesy of the trust, via a public footpath from Coaley Lane.

For the mansion and gardens at Wentworth Woodhouse https://wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk

For the follies in the care of the Fitzwilliam Wentworth Amenity Trust see https://wentworthestate.co.uk/visiting/monuments-follies/

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Late in 1963, a series of books was published with an eye for the Christmas market. Three of the titles featured British landmarks in the form of Bridges, Monuments, and Follies, and they were launched in time for ‘Christmas reading, New Year travelling’. Whilst Sir Hugh Casson, as editor of the series, was the big name to capture the attention of shoppers, the real heroes were Paul Sharp who provided the wonderful whimsical illustrations and bold design, and the writer E.M. Hatt, whose bright prose is a delight to read.

The books (there were eventually 8) were published by Chatto & Windus on behalf of the National Benzole Company, with the stated aim being to ‘stimulate and satisfy the curiosity of the motorist, and thus increase the pleasures of his journey’. Of course the books were the brainchild of the marketing department, and there was an ulterior motive: the more motorists explore, the more petrol they buy. The Follies volume was the first, and understandably it is Casson’s name on the cover, but although Sir Hugh writes in his introduction that the follies are ‘wittily and accurately described and affectionately depicted’, Hatt and Sharp are not mentioned by name until the acknowledgements on the final page of the book. The Folly Flâneuse hopes to give them the credit they are due here.

Ella Mary Thompson (1907-1972) was born in Bristol where her father was a newspaper reporter. She spent some time in Paris at the Sorbonne  and then in 1932 she married her father’s journalist colleague, Richard William Hatt. Hatt came from a prosperous Bath family who had been wigmakers, hairdressers and perfumers, but his career was influenced by the field of his uncle, who was Chairman of the Wessex Associated News. A son was born in July 1933, but tragically Richard died at the early age of 40 in September of the same year. After her husband’s death Ella was offered help and support by his sister, the artist Doris Hatt, and her partner Margery Mack Smith.

In 1939 Ella was working in Bristol as a proof-reader and indexer, but by 1942 she had moved to London and found employment with the publishing house Faber & Faber, working with T.S.Eliot. Alongside her work as an editor, she began to write books for children. A volume of verse, Callers at our House, illustrated by Leslie Wood, appeared in 1945, and three stories were published in 1947: Priscilla the Paddington Mouse, with illustrations by Francis Gower, The Cat with a Guinea illustrated by Leslie Wood, and The House that was No-one’s Affair with illustrations by Margaret Wolpe. The 1947 publications were well-received in the press, and recommended as Christmas gifts. She also translated a wide range of works from French and German – her eclectic list of subjects including cookery, caving, and compost.  The latter had become something of a Faber specialism, as director Richard (Dick) de la Mare was passionate about the organic movement, and this section of the list became known in-house as ‘muck’.

Mrs Hatt, as she was formally known at Faber & Faber, published under the name E.M.Hatt, seldom revealing her gender. But there was one exception: in 1962 ‘Ella Hatt’ wrote the text for the last in a series of books produced by National Benzole on the subject of ‘Our National Heritage’. The foreword to Our National Heritage: Gardens was written by Vita Sackville-West, and again the writer and illustrator were relegated to a note at the back of the book. The delightful illustrations and design were by Paul Sharp, and as Vita wrote ‘How delightful it is to come across such a series in a world which tends more and more towards cheapness and vulgarity’. The success of this publication probably led to Hatt and Sharp working together on the Follies series the following year. Hatt’s text for Follies is lively and engaging (the Barwick Park follies are ‘the jolliest collection of frolics’), probably because she had a genuine interest in the subject: her grandson recalls car journeys being interrupted to investigate nearby curiosities.

The visual side of the book was the work of Paul Spencer Sharp (1921-1998). He was born in Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire, and would have been familiar with follies from a young age, as the mighty Wainhouse Tower dominates the view towards Halifax. Sharp studied at Wakefield School of Arts and Crafts, where in 1939-40 he won an award for designing the school Christmas card. His prize was a copy of the recently published High Street by J.M.Richards with the now-famous illustrations by Eric Ravilious – which must have influenced the young artist. He went on to Leeds College of Art before serving with the RAF in the Second World War. He finished his education at the Royal College of Art and then taught at Farnham School of Art, where he rose to become head of the Department of Design. He left teaching in 1960 to concentrate on graphic design, and would go on to work for clients including the Paul Mellon Centre, the National Gallery, Sothebys, Royal Doulton, Spink and the Mermaid Theatre.

The series of books for National Benzole was a major project for Sharp, and his obituary in The Independent reveals that he drove over 150,000 miles ‘to visit some of the most obscure corners of the British Isles’ whilst researching and sketching. The obituary was written by Paul Atterbury, a specialist in 19th and 20th century art, now recognised from his appearances on TV’s Antiques Roadshow. His father, Rowland, ran the Westerham Press where Sharp was a favoured designer and friend, and where the National Benzole books were printed. Paul Atterbury’s draft obituary (not published in its entirety) remembered his ‘calm and well-ordered graphic style’, and his ability to ‘catch in a few lines and a few minutes, the essence of a building […] he could draw through the car window, or under an umbrella in a howling gale. Nothing could stop him’.

In 1967 the three books on follies, castles, and monuments were reissued in a single volume by The Reprint Society, a book club. Top marks to them for righting the wrong and giving Hatt and Sharp full credit on the cover.

The Folly Flâneuse was delighted to be introduced to the work of artist Doris Hatt, whose work often features Cabot Tower and Walton Castle in Bristol as a backdrop https://www.courtgallery.com/artists/210-doris-hatt/biography/

There’s a short film about Sharp’s work here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxMRRKXsJfg

Thanks for reading. If you have any thoughts, or can add any further information, please scroll down to the comments box at the bottom of the page. 

Parlington Park is close to Aberford, south of Wetherby, on the old Great North Road. An architectural highlight of the landscape park is this Triumphal Arch, constructed in the early 1780s to definitively declare Sir Thomas Gascoigne’s stance on the ongoing war with America. Its inscription begins LIBERTY IN N AMERICA TRIUMPHANT, an unequivocal statement that Sir Thomas was firmly on the side of the colonists. The Folly Flâneuse has written about the arch before, but is revisiting to mark the Fourth of July, Independence Day in the U.S.A., and to look at a very curious moment in the modern history of the monument.

Gascoigne had first planned an arch in 1780, perhaps to commemorate his renunciation of the Catholic church and conversion to the Church of England, which allowed him to successfully stand as a Member of Parliament, or perhaps to mark his intention to settle at his Yorkshire estate. But this is merely conjecture, and there is no clue in the simple stone bearing his name and date shown in the sketch above. Executed in a proficient amateur hand the elevation survives in the family papers, and Sir Thomas himself has been suggested as the artist.

Gascoigne (1745-1810) supported the Whig party, of which a leading light was the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham of Wentworth Woodhouse, a fellow Yorkshire landowner. The party advocated independence for the American colonies, and did not support George III’s policy of prolonging the war until the Americans were subdued. Hence the decision to make the arch a monument to the American victory.

Moving on from the initial rough sketch of 1780 Gascoigne commissioned architect Thomas Leverton to draw up plans, and his ‘Design for an arch now building…’ was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1781. The decision on a dedication was made the following year, when Gascoigne intended a long inscription reading: ‘To that Virtue which for a series of Years resisted Oppression & by a glorious Peace rescued its Country & Millions from Slavery. T.G. Dedicates this Arch. 1782’. But by the time the arch was nearing completion the treaties known as the Peace of Paris had been signed, formally ending the war, and Sir Thomas had carved on the arch a short and succinct statement:

LIBERTY IN N AMERICA TRIUMPHANT MDCCCLXXXIII

The house at Parlington was largely demolished in the 1950s and the park sold in the 1960s. When Nicholas Pevsner published his West Riding volume of The Buildings of England in 1959 he described the arch, and was particularly impressed with the quality of the lettering. Dr Alexander Lock recently discovered that Pevsner was involved in a rather bizarre scheme to relocate the arch: in 1975 Pevsner suggested that the monument be taken down and transported across the Atlantic, proposing the arch as a gift to the American nation to celebrate the bicentenary of Independence the following year. Pevsner’s motion seems to have been taken seriously, but ultimately the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which was coordinating Britain’s contribution to the celebrations, rejected the idea. Upon consideration, the officers thought the arch did not have ‘sufficient historical significance or contemporary relevance to make it a worthy gift’.

The Folly Flâneuse begs to differ: this one landscape ornament is a unique monument to a major epoch in British history. Surely the heritage lobby would not have let it happen, but luckily it did not have to be put to the test. There’s no explanation why Pevsner would suggest that the British government should give away an important arch which they didn’t even own. Giving the eminent scholar the benefit of the doubt, only fragments of the house remained, the park had been divided in a major sale ten years earlier, and the arch was by then described in The Dalesman as ‘derelict and forlorn’; so perhaps he thought it would be better off cherished in America than decrepit in Yorkshire.

The civil servants also revived the idea, first discussed during WWII, of gifting one of the surviving copies of the Magna Carta to the United States (and no, the government didn’t own one of those, either). This too was dismissed, and instead Britain decided to loan one of the British Library’s two copies of the Magna Carta to Washington, where it would be on display for a year. In July 1975 the idea was discussed in the House of Lords. Lord Shepherd introduced the proposal, saying that the Magna Carta would be thought suitable ‘by most people who treasure democracy’. The irony was not lost on Lord Carrington, who said:
‘If I may be permitted just one reflection, I am sure we are the only people in the world who would celebrate a considerable defeat by sending something we value 3,000 miles across the ocean; but I suppose we are none the worse for that.’

The Magna Carta went to Washington, where it was displayed in the Rotunda of the Capitol in a ‘specially made showcase box over a gold replica which will be revealed when the original is returned’. Happily the arch stayed in Parlington. In the end it was George W. Turner of Elma, Washington, who brought it to the notice of the American public: he ‘discovered’ the arch when in England in 1975, and the Bicentennial Times reported that the ‘American monument’ could be found ‘tucked away in Parlington Park, near Yorkshire, England’.

At the time of writing in 2020, the date 4th of July will be celebrated in England for a very different reason: cafes, art galleries (to pick personal favourites) and many other businesses will be able to reopen as the Covid19 lockdown is eased (Scotland and Wales have to wait a little longer). The Folly Flâneuse would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped with images and information during this period when resources, and the chance to travel, have not been available. Hopefully flâneusing further afield can be resumed very soon. Wishing everyone good health, happiness and a haircut.

You can see more of Chris Broughton’s wonderful illustrations here https://chrisbroughtonartist.co.uk

And discover the work of the splendid New Arcadian Press here https://www.newarcadianpress.co.uk

Thanks to Brian Hull for the main image. You can visit his excellent Parlington website here  http://www.parlington.co.uk

For an earlier post on Parlington see https://thefollyflaneuse.com/triumphal-arch-and-sham-ruin-parlington-park-aberford-west-yorkshire/

There was good news in autumn 2019 with the announcement that the great Georgian estate of Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, had been awarded National Heritage Lottery funds to allow work to begin on the restoration of the Camellia House. Originally known as the Greenhouse, the building was part of a menagerie complex which housed exotic pheasants. Only 20 miles away, in Bawtry, another curious aviary has sadly not survived. 

The 18th century saw a mania for ornamental birds, and particularly pheasants, introduced into Britain from ‘exotic’ lands. Shops were established where ladies could choose the finest specimens, and architects and landscape designers were kept busy designing menageries and aviaries. The colourful birds also appeared on wallpaper, porcelain, and needlework panels as the fashion took hold.

The menagerie at Wentworth Woodhouse was created in the 1730s by Lord and Lady Malton, later the 1st Earl and Countess of Rockingham, and it took the form of a grass meadow edged with shrubberies. At the side were pens for the birds, mainly ornamental pheasants from around the world, although visitors were impressed by a ‘pair of Cockatoos flying at liberty in the gardens’. Alongside the imported curiosities there were also domestic poultry, and cows grazed nearby, adding to the pastoral scene. Over time more exotic creatures, including an eagle and a moose, were added, and by the middle of the 19th century sheep, goats and llamas lived alongside an American bear, ring-tailed lemurs, kangaroos and many other species.

The double-faced ‘pavilion and greenhouse’ at the upper end of the menagerie provided a place for ladies to drink tea when visiting to admire the flora and fauna. The building must have been a real opportunity for the family to impress guests – exotic birds, an ‘architectural greenhouse’, and a cup of tea – at that date still a luxury item.

The Greenhouse was built in 1738 to replace one elsewhere on the estate. In c.1814 it was extended as a home for an important collection of Camellias, and was suitably renamed. The new building was decorated with Coade stone ornaments: four female statues and two baskets of fruit. Camellias provide welcome winter colour, and were in bloom when they were placed on the coffin of Viscount Milton, son of the 6th Earl Fitzwilliam, in January 1877.

The Camellia House fell into disrepair after the house was requisitioned during World War Two, although the Camellias still grew amid the dereliction, and recent clearance work has re-revealed their glory. The building will be restored as a cafe and tea will once more be drunk there, which is appropriate really as tea (Camellia sinensis) is a close relation of the ornamental camellia.

Not too far away from Wentworth is Bawtry Hall, which can be found on the edge of the village of the same name, close to the border with Nottinghamshire. The estate was purchased by Pemberton Milnes in 1779, and soon after that date he built a new mansion to the design of Doncaster architect William Lindley. Milnes died in 1795, and the estate passed to his daughter, Bridget, who in 1775 had married Peter Auriol Hay Drummond, a son of the then Archbishop of York. The couple had lived at Bawtry Hall during her father’s lifetime, paying a peppercorn rent from at least 1789. In 1793 a visitor described ‘Mr Drummond’s very pretty grounds’; the highlight was ‘a Charming Avery (sic) fancifully built, enclosing some beautiful Pheasants, particularly the golden.’

Drummond died in 1799, and in 1803 Bridget married Robert Monckton-Arundel, 4th Viscount Galway. They lived at nearby Serlby Hall until Galway’s death in 1810, but the Viscountess made visits to Bawtry to manage her estate. In 1804 Doncaster’s historian Edward Miller wrote that she ‘has the groves and grounds in the nicest order; and in a beautiful little area, surrounded by shrubs, has erected the annexed elegant menagerie for the reception of curious and rare birds to which she pays great attention.’ It is only thanks to Miller’s ‘annexed’ engraving that we know that the aviary took the form of a large round cage.

Following the death of her second husband, Bridget returned to Bawtry Hall and to the care of her gardens and aviary. Peck’s Topographical History of Bawtry, published in 1813, notes that the menagerie’s principal inhabitants were three species of ornamental pheasant; the golden, the silver and the common. The aviary was still in use in April 1835 when a reward of £5 was offered for information on the theft of a silver pheasant. The dowager died in November of that year and the house was then rented out, the aviary probably declining from that date.

The Dowager Viscountess Galway’s heirs sold the estate in 1904 and in 1939 it was acquired by the Ministry of Defence, who made it the HQ of Bomber Command from 1941. After the war the hall was retained by the RAF although much of the grounds was developed for housing. The hall was sold in the 1980s and was subsequently used as offices and as a religious retreat until in 2017 it became a wedding and events venue. The plantation called Menagerie Wood is the only reminder of the unusual building that once ornamented the grounds.

There’s more about the Chippendale Society here https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/temple-newsam/
and much of the society’s wonderful collection is on display at Temple Newsam, near Leeds https://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/templenewsamhouse

For Wentworth Woodhouse see https://wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk

The group of follies and monuments at Wentworth Woodhouse needs little introduction, being one of the finest collections of landscape ornaments in Britain.   So this post is just an opportunity for The Folly Flâneuse to remind you that you can climb the Hoober Stand and admire the Monument on bank holidays and Sundays from Spring Bank holiday until late August. And also to use some photographs taken during the wonderful March heatwave.

The Needle’s Eye can be visited at any time via the the public footpath which leads off Coley Lane, park in the lay-by on your right as you approach from the village.

The Hoober Stand can be climbed during the open days, but the exterior is accessible at all times from the public footpath. Follow the signs to Hoober and then Hoober Stand or see the estate’s website below for a map.

The Rockingham Monument can only be seen at close quarters on the summer open days so don’t miss the opportunity.

Ideally, visit the Wentworth Woodhouse mansion first  and see how the Rockingham Monument and Hoober Stand were placed as eye-catchers from the Palladian front. The third monument visible is Keppel’s Column which is featured here https://thefollyflaneuse.com/keppels-column-rotherham-south-yorkshire/

Check opening hours and learn more about the follies here https://wentworthestate.co.uk/visiting/monuments-follies/

Read about visiting the mansion and the great plans for its future here https://wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk

Now near neighbour to a Rotherham housing estate, Keppel’s Column originally stood in open ground on the edge of Scholes Wood on the Wentworth Woodhouse estate. An obelisk had been proposed for the site as early as 1769. Its original purpose was as an eye-catcher to terminate the southern vista from the new principal front of the Wentworth House mansion, balancing the pyramidal Hoober Stand to the north which is dated 1748. Keppel’s Column was clearly visible from the top of Hoober Stand, as was the Lady’s Folly, which featured here recently https://thefollyflaneuse.com/ladys-folly-tankersley-south-yorkshire/.  All three ornamental buildings could be seen from each other, and when guests were taken by carriage to climb a tower, or take tea in a summer house, they served to display the vast size of the Marquis of Rockingham’s estate.  

Rockingham originally asked his architect John Carr to build an obelisk on a pedestal base. This early design was to incorporate one of the four obelisks which stood on the lawn by Wentworth House. Carr designed a 45 foot tall tower on which the obelisk would sit. This obelisk-topped plan was abandoned with work not far advanced.*

The next iteration of the eye-catcher was discussed in 1776. By this date it had been decided to add another 78 feet to the structure as it currently stood and to finish it with a balustraded viewing platform. This became known as the Great Column or the Scholes Column.

In 1779 Rockingham asked Carr to remodel the Great Column as a ‘Naval Column’ to commemorate ‘Naval Honour and Naval Integrity’. The impetus for this change was the inconclusive battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778 following which there was a dramatic dispute between Keppel and one of his commanders, Sir Hugh Palliser. This led to Keppel being court-martialled on charges including undue haste in quitting a battle and failing to pursue the enemy. Keppel was a Whig and Palliser a Tory and the court-martial was as much, if not more, about Tory and Whig political rivalry as it was about the events at sea, and both parties used it to gain political advantage.

Keppel was acquitted and the charges against him dismissed as malicious. Rockingham was a friend and political colleague of Keppel, and had attended his trial in the company of other prominent Whigs who claimed Keppel as a hero. Prints, coins and gold boxes were circulated celebrating the acquittal and hailing it as a victory for justice.

Keppel himself visited Wentworth in August 1779. By that date the column must have been practically complete and the Admiral ascended the ‘true Doric column’ with Rockingham and John Carr to admire the view of ‘rivers, towns, gentleman’s seats’ as well as the ‘smoke from the foundries on the Don’. The column is described as being ‘inscribed to Naval Justice’, but if this was a literal inscription, in the form of a tablet on the column, it has been lost.  In December of that year it was decided that the column was to be terminated by a 30 foot high statue of Admiral Keppel, and the base embellished with carved ships’ prows in in the style of the rostral, or victory, columns of ancient Greece and Rome. For reasons unknown, the statue and prows were never added and the column shows the scars today of the constant changes to the design. When calculating the height of the column John Carr would have planned the entasis, a technical term for the slight bulge in a column which allows the eye to see the sides as parallel (if built straight, the sides of the column would have appeared to be concave). Because the column was terminated at a lesser height than originally planned the column appears to bulge as the entasis is not correct.

The formal event to ‘christen the Naval Column in honour of the Admiral’ took place in October 1780 when a ‘number of the nobility and gentry assembled’. As they approached a 21 gun salute was fired, and three cheers were raised by the gathered crowd. A band played and an ‘elegant cold collation’ was served. The party then ascended the 220 steps and a number of loyal toasts were drunk. The union flag was flown along with the words ‘Admiral Keppel for ever, the pride and glory of Great Britain’.

Newspaper reports of the monument and celebrations frustrated the Tory press, as lines published in response show:

Heroic deeds immortal are,
And need nor Stone nor Brass;
But Keppel’s must be told by these,
Or in Oblivion pass.
Do let the Stone, Good Rockingham!
A trust for once declare;
His Party Deeds, and not his brave,
By you recorded are.

The column was publicly accessible well into the 20th century, but was boarded up in the 1960s as unsafe. Sadly it became separated from the Wentworth Fitzwilliam estate and current owner, Rotherham Borough Council, urgently needs to address the building’s future. Thanks to the advent of drone photography there are short films on You Tube that show both the stunning views that were once to be enjoyed and worryingly the poor condition of the building. Despite occasional repairs the grade II listed structure is now urgently in need of restoration and is on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register.

UPDATE October 2021: In March 2021 listed building consent was granted conditionally for works to repair the column and restore access. In October 2021 the column was one of the beneficiaries of a grant from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund. Work is now underway.

UPDATE September 2021. Work on the column is now complete. Public access to the interior is by pre-booking only from April to October.

The column can be accessed from the nearby road, the heroically named Admiral’s Crest. Lady’s Folly is gone but you can read more here https://thefollyflaneuse.com/ladys-folly-tankersley-south-yorkshire/Hoober Stand, the Rockingham Monument and the other estate follies can be visited in the summer season https://wentworthestate.co.uk/visiting/monuments-follies/as can the Wentworth Woodhouse mansion, now in the care of a preservation trust https://wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk

*Rockingham’s heir, Lord Fitzwilliam, was determined to recycle the obelisks, and after an aborted plan to incorporate one into his monument to his uncle, Fitzwilliam eventually relocated all four obelisks to form a sort of guard of honour around the Rockingham Monument.

A 1770s map of the Wentworth Woodhouse estate marks a building called ‘The Marchioness’s Summer House’. The noble lady in question was Mary Bright, wife of the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, twice Prime Minister of Great Britain. The summer house was situated on high ground in Tankersley Park which was home to a large herd of red deer.

Architect John Carr designed the building in 1763. He visited with one of his nieces in 1795 and she wrote that the views from the temple were ‘the most beautiful and extensive in the Kingdom’. The panorama included two other prominent eye-catchers on the Wentworth estate: the Hoober Stand and Keppel’s Column.

As the local ironstone mining industry encroached on the designed landscape in the 19th century, the building lost its raison d’être as a gazebo and ceased to be used by the family. The deer herd was moved closer to the mansion and the abandoned folly became a hangout for local youths. In 1864 five ‘lads in their teens’ were charged with trespassing and causing considerable damage to the ‘rural temple…known as the Lady’s Folly’. The temple was a focal point for local galas, and old photos show it decked in bunting, but its decline continued.

In the late 1950s an open-cast coal mine was opened close to the folly as the land had been requisitioned by the Ministry of Power under the legislation passed during the Second World War. The spoil was piled up almost to the base of the temple, and the foundations of the already crumbling structure were further weakened. By the time the Ministry announced it would ‘quit and give up possession’ in August 1960 the temple was in a parlous condition and it was demolished that same year.

Its site is marked by a stone which records

ON THIS SITE A SUMMER HOUSE OR
OBSERVATORY OF GRECIAN DESIGN WAS
ERECTED SOMETIME BETWEEN 1760-1770
BY DIRECTION OF THE 2ND MARQUIS
OF ROCKINGHAM FOR HIS WIFE MARY
FOR TWO CENTURIES THE LADIES FOLLY
AS IT WAS POPULARLY KNOWN WAS
AN OUTSTANDING LANDMARK AND VIEWPOINT
ERECTED CIRCA 1760
DEMOLISHED AS UNSAFE AND PAST RESTORATION
1960

Ask for ‘Lady’s Folly’ today and you will be shown to Hole 3 on Tankersley Golf Course.

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‘What did Delaware?’, asks the old song. Well until January 2020 one part of the state casts off its brand new jersey and dons some brand new follies. Winterthur, near Wilmington, DA., is home to a gallery, museum and library set within 60 acres of garden and surrounded by a further 1,000 acres of park. Winterthur’s founder, Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969), designed the garden with the architect Marian Coffin, an old friend from childhood. From around 1920 he embellished the estate with garden buildings relocated from nearby estates that were under threat, as well as creating his own follies from recycled architectural fragments.

Since April these structures have been augmented with a wonderful collection of newly constructed follies. Some are inspired by genres of folly such as a gothic tower, an Ottoman tent, a rustic hut and a classical temple whilst two are heavily inspired by real buildings in England: the Needle’s Eye at Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire and the Chinese Pavilion at Stowe, Buckinghamshire.

http://www.winterthur.org