Tortoise Temples

This 1831 illustration of the ‘Tortoise’s Grotto’, at the then brand new Surrey Zoological Gardens, is currently on view in Lost Gardens of London, the latest exhibition at The Garden Museum in Lambeth. As the show’s title hints, the zoo and the tortoises’ rocky home are long gone but, almost two centuries later, miniature follies are still being built to house chosen chelonians.

Alan Terrill has kept tortoises since he rescued a stray as a child, and as an adult he has created quirky homes for the creatures wherever life has taken him.

In the 1970s home was Sheffield and there were three tortoises in the family. Alan built an octagonal castle out of brick – each one cut at an angle by hand – which was then rendered. Set in elegant ornamental grounds, the tortoises soon got the hang of climbing the steps and passing through the portcullis to get to bed each evening.

From there the Terrill family moved to an old Methodist chapel in Kent. Alan set to work to build a miniature replica to house the tortoises, but reimagining the chapel as a ruin. The 1980s saw a fashion for fireplaces built of small bricks, and this was the ideal building material. The roof was made from tiny tiles created from a full-size roof slate. This home was taken down and travelled with the Terrills to their next home.

There it was joined by a second tortoise house exclusively for the boys (who tended to give the females a hard time in the warmer weather). Also in brick, this shelter had an Egyptian doorway and was topped with a pyramid. The finishing touch was a suitably macho tortoise sculpture.

In 2001 the family moved to Shropshire, leaving behind the tortoise houses. For some years the tortoises made do with makeshift shelters whilst Alan pondered what form their new home should take (and he was otherwise occupied building full-size follies in his new garden).

In January 2022 the Folly Flâneuse featured the recently-restored shell temple at Leigh Park (now Staunton Harold Country Park) in Havant, in Hampshire (above). Alan’s wife Claire instantly declared it just the model for a new tortoise house.

Alan set to work to design and build a miniature version in their tortoise enclosure. Pondering a design issue, Alan recruited restoration architect John Malaiperuman, who worked on the restoration of the 19th century original, for help. The temple has an internal wall to separate the males and females, and is decorated with shells bought on eBay. The tortoise folly is currently home to Diogenes (who has been part of the family for 47 years), Loosestrife and Ephebe.

Lost Gardens of London, guest curated by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, continues at The Garden Museum until 2 March 2025. The view of the ‘Tortoise’s Grotto’ has been adopted for display by the Folly Fellowship, the charity founded in 1988 to preserve, promote and protect follies, grottoes and garden buildings (when Alan is not busy building tortoise houses and full-size follies he maintains the Fellowship’s excellent website).

The trustees of the Folly Fellowship have asked the Flâneuse to invite readers to join their members at a private view of the exhibition on Friday 31 January. To find out more click here.

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