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FABULOUS FOLLIES
...and Landscape Curiosities

Lancashire

ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE            

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  ​Stamford Park Grotto

ATHERTON                                                             

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Lions Bridge

Lions Bridge was built in 1724 to span an ornamental lake for 'Mad' Richard Atherton. There were six stone lions on the bridge, two at each end and two in the middle.

The lake dried up in the 19th century and the bridge collapsed in 1905.

The site of the bridge today is marked by the remains of one of the lions, re-erected by the Leigh Civic Society. 

BLACKBURN

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Corporation Park Gates

Corporation Park was laid out by William Henderson and was opened in 1857.

The triumphal arch at the southern entrance is the main gateway into the park.

BROUGHTON EAST                                               SD 399 793

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Hampsfell Hospice

The little building above Grange-over-Sands was built 1835-46 for Rev. Thomas Remington, the vicar of Cartmel.
It was erected 'for the shelter and entertainment of travellers over the fell'. Above the doorway is a Greek inscription: RODODAKTYLOS EOS ('Rosy-fingered Dawn', a quotation from Homer).

BURNLEY                                                                  SD 854 308

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Townley Park Entrance











Postcard posted:1921


BURY                                                                        SD 777 163

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Peel Tower

The 128 feet high Peel Tower was erected by the people of Ramsbottom, at a cost of £10,000, near the birthplace of Robert Peel who had died in 1850 in a riding accident in Hyde Park. An inscription reads:

'IT MAY BE THAT I SHALL LEAVE
A NAME SOMETIMES REMEMBERED
WITH EXPRESSION OF GOOD WILL
IN THE ABODES OF THOSE, WHOSE
LOT IS TO LABOUR...'


CLAIFE

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Boathouse













CLAIFE

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Fernery

DARWEN                                                                  SD 678 215

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Jubilee Tower

In 1878, five men were sent to court for trespassing on Darwen Moor but after winning their case, the moor became public access. This concluded a long legal battle with the lord of the manor and owner of shooting rights.

The 86 feet high late medieval-styled tower was built as an observatory and both celebrated the peoples success and commemorated Victoria's Jubilee. It was opened on September 24th 1898.

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HAIGH                                                                          SD 584 071

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Gateway and Lodge

​The entrance archway and lodges to Haigh Hall Park were built in about 1840. 

HEYSHAM                                                                   SD 409 616

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Rock Graves

Six graves are cut into the rock near to St Patrick's Chapel. Excavations in the 1970s revealed bones dated to the 10th and 11th centuries. 
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Date taken: 23/03/2014

HEYSHAM

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Viewing platform

The viewing platform looks out to Morecombe Bay.










​Date taken: 23/03/2013


LANCASTER                                                          SD 488 613

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Ashton Memorial

The Ashton Memorial in Williamson Park has a plaque, which reads:

THIS BUILDING WAS ERECTED BY
THE RIGHT HON. LORD ASHTON
AS A MEMORIAL TO HIS FAMILY AND
PRESENTED TO THE INHABITANTS
OF LANCASTER AD 1907


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23/03/2014

LEVENS                                                                    SD 495 849

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Smoke House

The Smoke House is in the corner of the garden at Levens Hall and is shown on a garden plan of 1720. The front was replaced in the 19th century and has recently had a makeover and its identity is now lost.  

LEVENS                                                                    SD 495 849

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Focal point

A niche was built into the garden wall at Levens Hall in the 1920s by the Reynolds family to provide a focal point from the beech hedge allee.


LOWER ALLITHWAITE                                      SD 392 756

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Kirkland Tower

The Gothic churchlike tower on the summit of Kirkhead is marked on a 1826 map and was probably a summerhouse for nearby Abbot Hall. It is thought that it was built on the site of an ancient church used as an oratory for travellers before Cartmel Priory was built.

It is still occasionally used for open air Sunday worship.


LOWER HOLKER                                                   SD 359 776

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Holker Hall Grotto Tunnel












Date taken: 19/04/2015


LOWER HOLKER                                                   SD 359 776

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Holker Hall Summerhouse

In the sunken garden at Holker Hall is a terrace with summerhouses and a dovecot.









Date taken: 19/04/2015


LOWER HOLKER                                                   SD 359 776

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Holker Hall Pulpit












Date taken: 19/04/2015


LOWER HOLKER

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Holker Hall Labyrinth












Date taken: 19/04/2015


OVER WYRESDALE                                            SD 542 573

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  Jubilee Tower

  
James Harrison was a shipbuilder who lived at Hare   Appleton and commissioned Mr Gifford to build a tower to   commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. 

  In 1973, Adam Leigh donated it to Lancashire County   Council.  

RAMSBOTTOM

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Grant's Tower

Grant's Tower was a monument to William Grant who, with his brother Daniel, built much of the town of Ramsbottom. Although the tower collapsed in 1944, the brothers were immortalised as Ned and Charles Cheeryble in Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby.


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RAMPSIDE                                                              SD 241 662

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No. 4 Leading Light

The tall slender navigation beacon at Rampside was built in about 1875. Leading lights were also erected on Foulney Island and Walney Island and have been demolished. The alignment of the lights assisted in the approach to Barrow-in-Furness.






​Date taken: 20/04/2015


ROA ISLAND                                                           SD 231 648

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Watch House

John Abel Smith, a London banker, bought Roa Island in 1840 and had a causeway constructed to connect it to the mainland. He also had the 810 feet long pier built and, in 1849, the Customs and Excise House was erected. It had a watch tower on one side of the arch and a boathouse at the other side.





Date taken: 20/04/2015

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SILVERDALE                                                          SD 466 735

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Tower

The tower on the shore at Jenny Brown's Point is a copper smelting chimney used when the works were active from about 1780 to 1820. There is also the remains of a narrow-gauge railway and a small jetty.

STAVELEY-IN-CARTMEL                                     SD 380 871

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Fell Foot Boathouse

The Fell Foot estate was bought by Colonel George John Miller Ridehalgh in 1859 and he had the Gothic boathouse on Lake Windermere rebuilt.

TAMESIDE                                                               SD 960 024

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Hartshead Pike Tower

A plaque from a previous tower that must have replaced an earlier one reads:

Look well at Be Before you Go
And see you Nothing at Ne Throw
This Pike was rebuilt by
Public Donation
Anno Domini 1751

The present one was rebuilt by the architect John Eaton to commemorate the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Alexandra of Denmark in 1863.


TRAWDEN FOREST                       

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  Atom -Panopticon

  
The Atom was designed by Peter meacock, Andrew   Edmunds and Katerina Novemestska in 2006. It is one of   the Panopticon arts and regeneration project of the East   Lancashire Environmental Arts Network. 







​  Date taken: 15 /06/2017

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TRAWDEN FOREST                                           SD 936 393

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  Vaccary Walls

 
The vertical slabs of stone were possibly erected in   medieval times as  field enclosures for the vaccary   system of cattle farming. 








​ Date taken: 15/06/2017

TRAWDEN FOREST                                            SD 935 399

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  Clam Bridge

  
​Clam Bridge is an ancient stone footbridge near Bank   House, Wycoller.









  Date taken: 15/06/2017

ULVERSTON                                                            SD 294 790

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Hoad Monument

Built on the summit of Hoad Hill, the monument is also known as Sir John Barrow Monument. John was born at Ulverston in 1764 and his writings include a standard work on the 'Mutiny on the Bounty'. The 100 feet tall monument was designed by Andrew Trimen and modelled on the Eddystone Lighthouse. It was built in 1850.

Eddystone Lighthouse was built in 1759 by John Sneaton.

​There is also a lighthouse monument at Crich, Derbyshire.











​The post mark on this postcard is 1905

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URSWICK                                                                SD 301 761

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Manjushri Mayayana Buddhist Centre

There are 19th century follies on the Conishead Priory estate but the Manjushri Mayayana Buddhist Centre has erected an Oriental looking building that looks like a folly.







​Date taken: 01/06/2007

URSWICK                                                                SD 302 761

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Conishead Tower

Conishead Priory was built by Philip Wyatt from 1821 to 1836 for Colonel T.R.Gale Braddyll.

​A tower on Hermitage Hill was built around that time as a two-storey summerhouse.

It was restored in 1990 by Roger Fisher, a racehorse trainer.



​Date taken: 21/04/2015

Copyright Ray Blyth 2018