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FABULOUS FOLLIES
...and Landscape Curiosities

Leicestershire

ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH                                        SK 361 166

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  Banqueting Houses























  Date taken: 10/06/2016

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ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH                                         SK 356 165

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The Loudoun Memorial

The 70 feet high cross was designed by Gilbert Scott as a memorial to Lady Loudoun who died in 1879 and was a member of the Hastings family of Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle.

The design is in the style of an Eleanor Cross like the one at HARDINGSTONE, Northamptonshire.

Other medieval reproduction crosses are at: 
      ILAM, Staffordshire
      HELMSLEY, North Riding
      OXFORD, Oxfordshire
      SLEDMERE, East Riding


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BELVOIR

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Summerhouse




BOTTESFORD                                                             SK 806 389

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Stocks and Whipping Post

It is said that during WWII the stocks were stolen by American servicemen but after negotiations were returned and stored until the end of the war.

They were repaired in 1973.

​On the 4th August 2012, an out of control vehicle knocked down the stocks and whipping post and damaged the steps of the cross. 

LEICESTER                                                                  SK 597 034

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Pavilion

The Pavilion in Victoria Park was previously a grandstand when the racecourse was in the park. In 1806, horse racing started on land that is now the park and the grandstand was built in 1866 to replace the one known as the 'dog hole'. 

The Pavilion was partly destroyed in 1940 after being targeted by a parachute mine. 

LOUGHBOROUGH                                               SK 533 193

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  The Carillion

  The 151 feet high brick tower in Queens Park was built   as a war museum in 1923. It has 138 steps to the   gallery and 47 bells.

NEWTOWN LINFORD                                        SX 525 112

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Old John

It is said that Old John was employed by the 5th Earl of Stamford and died when a flagpole, which was in the centre of a bonfire, fell on him. The Earl had the sham ruin erected on the site of the mill where John had worked.

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SUTTON CHENEY                                                 SP 401 999

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King Dick's Well

The pyramid at Bosworth Field was erected in 1813 by Samuel Parr and has a plaque in Latin that translates as:

'Richard III, King of England, slaked his thirst with water drawn from this well when engaged in bitter and furious battle with Henry, Earl of Richmond, and before being deprived of both life and his sceptre on the morning of 22 August 1485'


Copyright Ray Blyth 2018