ISSN 0963-9004 F o L L I ES The International Magazine for Follies, Grottoes and Garden Buildings Volume 9, No.3 (aiel series No. 35) £3.00 Winter 1997 ~~~~riB~~~~~~ ·· POPE ~ S GROTTO 6D EN.DOFTHE·A272 . ­ FOORD~S FOLLY c» BOAT PEOPLE lion as to wh o is fC»-po ih e for " tenanc e: FOLLIES EDITORIAL alleged descendants or the local ' ? The The International Magazine for Follies, lesser kn own stru ctures. or certai v those Grottoes and Garden Buildings ou're all too kind not to mention the odd wh ere the BBC were pe ' 0 ano runu ­ No.35 £3.00 155:'/ 0963,9004 Winter 1997 Ygeographica l blunde r of late, an d I can­ ty, included Lord Petre' Cir>..llU:' Chap el at not even pretend to blame it on any planned Thorndon Hall in Essex, and .< Ho pe's Published four limes a yea r by or eve n executed boundary cha nge s. So for mausoleum at Decpdcne, buill in 1;:;1..; and the record, Pepp crpot Cas tle is in T au nt on, sealed up for etern ity in 1957 bv surrounding The Folly Fellowship it with concrete. ,\ regisrered chariw and a COlllj>.:l IlYlimited br guar:lIl lce Somer set (not Devon) and Belvoir Castle is Registered ill Eugland :'\0.2600672 in Leicestershire, altho ug h I make no apolo­ Subject to Committee approval. the 1998 Editor: Michael Cousins gies for th e fact that in the past it has been Garden Party will be held on 16 August . placed in Lincolnshire (William Camden's 'In The News' Editor: Susan Kellerman Although the details of the venu e are at pr esent Britannia and William Burton's TheDescrip­ Contrib uting Editors: a closel y guarded secret, it will be an appro­ Andrew Plumridge, Lynne Comi ns, tion of Leicestershire). So there! priate one for our tenth anniversary year , and Peter Dane Just in case you thought that th ere had is (or at least should be) number one ofevery Editorial & Advertising Addre ss: bee n a sneak issu e of FOLLI ES maga zine with folly-hunter's list of places to see. It will be 7 Inch's Yard,MarketStreet, a further, and possibl y final, part of Vernon's yo ur one and onl y opportunity to see this Newbury, Berkshire RG14 5DP Grotto that you had someh ow missed, rest unique and breathtaking folly, so keep the Tel: 01635 42864 Fax: 01635 552366 assured, you haven't. W or k is progr essing date fre e and reschedule immediately any Internet address: [email protected] (as percipient read ers of The Telegraph will holid ays and weddings etc. that are already World 'Wide Web site: planned. As it is our tenth birthday, we are http://'''''''I'.heritage.co.uk/heritage/follies/ have read oflate) concur rent with the amount ofwork that Vern on has on at present. planning to mark th e event with a sp ecial So wha t's been go ing on ofl ate? An other folly weekend comprising a Symposium on Unless otherwise credited, illu strations excellent programme in the recent serie s of the Saturday, followed br an Annual Gener­ an d jJ!z otographs accolllpan)'/:ng ar ticles 'One Foot in the Past' , this time on mausolea al Meeting and Garden Part;' on the Sunday. ar e tak en b} the auih or of th e ar ti cle. (apol ogies to anyon e rem o ved fr om this Both events will be at the same venue. So, if ve ne ra ble island who doesn 't receive th e you have any suggestions as (Q who would BBC-you prob ably ha ven 't got a clu e as to make interesting, hum oro us and - owledge­ what I'm talkin g abo ut).James Wyatt's heav­ able sp eakers (2 out of the 3 will do!), then ily vandalised and unused final resting place pl ease let us know. for the 4 th Earl of Darnley at Cobham Hall New Brochures was featured; whilst a ruinous sev enteenth Cripes , it's in col our. what do I do with it? cen tury tomb in the churchya rd of S t. Mary W ell, yo u co uld zive gi ft memh e shi p to a the Virgin in Mauld en, Beds, raised the ques­ fi'iend or relative for Chrisun ' ( ~ ' o u could @]~@] evenjoin again !) Sim ply fill OU t th e details ~ ~ of the person [ 0 vhom membership is to be THE FOLLY ~ Contents: gi,-en- add your name for good measur e­ ~ FELLOWSHIp· I Editorial 2 ~ enclose a cheque. an pos ' it on . £ 35)-. Can ~ Events 2 we also n ke a h eartfelt plea or memb ers to Regist ered Charity No. 100264 6 ~ Founded 1988 by Andrew PIumridge, ~ Pulhamite in Gwent 3 ~ switch to panneD h.- standinz order, and for those already paving h~' this facility to che ck Gwyn Headley and Wim Meul enkamp. F or Sale 4 ~ I th e amo unt bein g ansferred and change it Pr esident: Gwyn Headley ~ Did You Know 4 i s to the co rrect su m £16.5 0 o r £20 .00 as Vice-President: Wim Meulenkamp 5 ~ ~~;I:~'::~; ... appl icable). , d to an~' one who still has not Secretary / Treasurer: Andrew Plumridge at Eastry I 6 :; the last magazine, please do so, renewed with Membership Secretary: Peter Dane ~ B o at People 8 ­ pretend it's ~ -our Christmas pr esent to us. Grot Secretary: Vernon Gibberd ... Three of a Kind 10 M I ~ Secretary's Office: ~ The Obelisk Column 11 ~ EVENTS 7 Inch's Yard, Market Street, ~ Newbury, Berkshire RGl 4 501' The Folly Fellowship 12 ~ Recording Survey I The Dutch D onderbergGroep is trying Membership Enquiries (UK & Ireland): ~ to organise a two days' ex cursion to th e 41 Bincote Road, Enfield, Middlesex EN2 7RD IJust for Fun 12 ~ ~ fabulous garden ofWilhelmshoh e at Kassel Memb ersh ip Enquiries (Continental Europe): Al exander Pope's 13 ~ Twickenham Grotto i in Germany, mid -May, 1998. The idea is to Lamersveld 4, 580 1 HD Venrav, Nederland ~ ~ Further to the Folly 15 ~ go by bus fro m Utrecht, N eth erlands, and Committee: ~ .Q u estio n n aire should any Folly Fe llowship me mbers be interested in j oining this trip, would they Education Officer: Peter Dane; Events Co-ordinator. Jonathan Holt; I Bo ok R eviews 16 Regional Secre tary, Continental Europe: Pieter Boogaan, Regio nal please contact the Secretary for Co ntine ntal ~ C h allenges near the A272 17 Europe at the address given on the left of Secretary, Lond on & South-East: Jain Gray; Regional Secretary, Part 3: Hampshire Midlands: BarbaraHague; RegionalSecretary,South-Wesc Sharon this p age, b efore th e end o f this year. Letters & Merchandise 2 0 McGiilJl;~o nal Secretary, North: SusanKellerman; Regional Sccre­ Arra nge ments for group trave l from England ttry, Wales:C"Tn Headley;Regional Secretary, Ireland-james Howle)' could p ossibly be ma de. 2 FOLLIE S WI NT ER1 9 9 7 Pulhamite in Gwent ~ Browne'S Folly Appeal ~ VERNON GIBBERD W Hell)us save Wade Browne's Fot0' 'Towel', near Bath~ n a tip-offfrornMartin Rickards (Fellowship member and famous h e Folly Fellowship has been asked by the Bristol, Bath and for his fern s) I made a detour to Dewstow House, near Caldicot O . Avon Wildlife Trust to take over th e ownership of Browne's in Cwent. It was an auspiciou s da y for folly hunting: wandering T Folly on Bathford Hill , nearBath . Although it is in reasonably good storms moved up th e Severn Estuary again st an apo calyp tic sky. condition, the tower is currently on the local authority's 'at risk' regis­ Dewstow itselfis an unremarkable mid-Vi ctorian classical house bu ilt ter and in need ofl imited repairs, including a new roof, the introduc­ on rising mead ow-land, with views across to Engl and between the tion oflightning conductors, the.repair of the internal staircase, banis­ Severn bridges. A lady drove up as I arri ved and kindly gave m e ters and window balustrades, and new windows and entrance door. permis sion to view the features. She recommended a torch , boots and While the Trust is able to manage the surrounding nature reserve, it a ha rd hat. As it happen ed I had to do without the last, but a tor ch is not geared up to manage buildings, especially follies. The Trust has, turned out to be essential. therefore, turned to us for help, and the Fellowship's Trustees have There are three prin cipal features, all in Pulhamite. The most extra­ agreed to be of assistance subject to our raising of the necessaryfunds. ordinary, though not perhaps the most beautiful , is a subterranean Browne's Folly was built in 1848 by Colonel W ade Browne, shortly labyrinth of tunnels, reminiscent of a min iature H awkestone. This after he purchased the Manor Estate of Monkton Farlei gh. At that can only have been construc ted by digging out a vast pit in the field, time, S001l after the Napoleoni c wars , there was a severe agricultural constructing the tunnel s and finally covering the whole over in concrete depression. To avoid starvation among his estate workers, Browne had and soil. The field abo ve is flat and grassy: there is no ind ication of them rebuild the old wooden semaphore tower which had been erect­ the tunnels below, exc ep t for rocky steps at each end .