historic gardens | Author, Jane Lark's stories

There is of course another form of folly, the memorial of the Grand Tour, an article obtained in pursuit of antiquity.

William Bankes, a friend of Lord Byron, who travelled through the period of Peninsular War was a collector.

In the later years he travelled with the well known excavator of Egyptian artefacts, Geovanni Belzoni, who he engaged to bring back an obelisk, which was a feat which took years.

On its first move, it plunged into the river out of sight.

However the obelisk did eventually make it to William Bankes home in Kingston Lacy, Dorset.

It arrived in England in 1821 and the Duke of Wellington offered to ship it to Dorset on a gun carriage.

The Duke of Wellington was then asked to lay the foundation stone in April 1827, when the granite steps it is mounted on and other fragments of the obelisk arrived in England.

This is commemorated in the plaques about the obelisk. As is the fact that King George IV donated granite from the ruins of Leptis Magna to repair damage to the obelisk which occurred during travel.

The obelisk still stands proudly erect in full view of the house at Kingston Lacy. It comes from the temple of Isis on the island of Philae, and is inscribed with the names of Ptolemy VII Euergetes II who died in 116BC, and his second consort Cleopatra III recording the exemption granted to the priests of Isis from the expense of local administration and has both Egyptian and Greek inscription.

There are many more tales to come from Kingston Lacy, but I’ll save those for another day.

To find out more go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_Bankes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Belzoni

Jane Lark’s debut novel is due to be published 2nd May 2013, by Sapphire Star Publishing See Jane’s website www.janelark.co.uk to learn more or click like on Jane’s Facebook page. You can also follow Jane on twitter at @janelark

We visited Belton House in Lincolnshire in September 2011, and the folly there was the height of Romance. Although I discovered no grand stories about it I just loved its charm.

Set at the end of a long avenue – a room with a view – not a very tall tower but placed on a hill that proclaims to give sight of seven counties.

It is set in a beautiful aspect, at the end of an avenue, both to look at from the windows of the house, and from the folly back towards the house. There were deer grazing in the park.

Belmount Tower was built between 1749 – 1751, and originally had two further arches either side of the central arch, these were removed in the later 18^th century on the advice of Lord Brownlow’s brother-in-law, Philip Yorke.

The building is surprisingly narrow, but internally contains a spiral staircase leading to a room above, from which the views can be enjoyed.

We know that Lord Brownlow used the room for entertaining, he even dined there, having a meal transported from the house to the tower. The servants must have transported the dinner in carts. It’s quite far from the house.

It looks like a fabulous entertaining space, people must have felt very decadent sitting in a room with views from every angle as though you were up on top of the world.

I recently went to another folly used for dining, on the Rievaulx Terrace, in Yorkshire. This Palladian style folly was established as a permanent entertaining space, and better equipt, with a cellar beneath for storing wine and cooking. Its over a mile from the house so there was no chance of transporting a hot dinner.

The whole platform it’s built on could almost be called a folly.

The bank of earth was built up on a natural hill above the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey, so guests may stroll from one end to another and enjoy the view of the Abbey ruins framed by carefully planted trees.

Imagine this on a Christmas day, dusted with snow, and then taking your Christmas dinner in the folly, which was as fabulously decorated as any house.

Views from the terrace;

Jane Lark is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional love stories.

See the side bar for details of Jane’s books, and Jane’s website www.janelark.co.uk to learn more about Jane. Or click ‘like’ on Jane’s Facebook page to see photo’s and learn historical facts from the Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, which Jane publishes there. You can also follow Jane on twitter at @janelark