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FABULOUS FOLLIES
...and Landscape Curiosities

Sussex

ARUNDEL                                                              TQ 128 080

Picture
  Hiorn's Tower

  Francis Hiorn designed the Tower in 1787 for the 11th   Duke of Norfolk.





  For other triangular castles see:
  DUNCHIDEOCK Devon
  ILFORD Essex
  HENBURY Gloucestershire
  BROADWAY Worcestershire 

BRIGHTLING                                                         TQ 670 212

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  Brightling Needle

  The 65 feet high obelisk on Brightling Down, 646 feet   above sea level, was probably designed by Sir Robert   Smirke. It was erected for John Fuller, who was known   as Mad Jack and had various landscape buildings on his   estate. The obelisk dates from around the time of the   Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and may have commemorated   Wellington's victory of Napoleon.

 The obelisk was extensively renovated in 1985 in order   to strengthen and stabilize it.

BRIGHTLING                                                           TQ 683 209

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Jack Fuller Pyramid

Jack Fuller died on 11th April 1834 and was buried beneath the 25 feet high pyramid that he had built in the churchyard at Brightling.








​Date taken: 14/04/2010


Picture
  Other pyramids can be seen at:

  Gloucestershire PAINSWICK
  Hampshire NETHER WALLOP
  Norfolk BLICKLING
  Yorkshire West Riding BRAMPTON BIERLOW
  Yorkshire West Riding HUNTWICK WITH FOULBY AND       NOSTELL
  Yorkshire West Riding SHAROW
  Yorkshire West Riding WEST BRETTON 



  Date taken: 14/04/2010

BRIGHTON AND HOVE                                       TQ 312 041

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The Royal Pavilion

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Royal Pavilion Entrance Arch

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Picture
The Dome and Corn Exchange

BURWASH                                                               TQ 671 238

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Batman's Dovecote

Bateman's was built in about 1634, and was the home of Rudyard Kipling from 1902 until his death in 1936. 

One of the double oast-houses was converted to a dovecote in the early 19th century with a wooden cupola replacing the cowl. The other was made into a cottage by Kipling's cousin, Sir Ambrose Poynter, when he made improvements to the house in 1902. 

CHICHESTER                                                        SU 860 048

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  Bishop Story's Cross

  The 50 feet high Market Cross was a gift to the city of   Chichester by Edward Story, Bishop of Chichester 1478   to 1503.

  In 1724 the clock tower and belfry were added.















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​Date taken: 07/11/2003

COLGATE

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Holmbush Tower

Holmbush Tower is a 106 feet high prospect tower designed by London architect, Francis Edwards, for Mr Broadwood in 1859.


DALLINGTON                                                        TQ 669 195

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The Sugar Loaf

The 35 feet high spire-shaped building was built for Jack Fuller in the early 19th century and probably designed by Sir Robert Smirke. 

The eyecatcher in Brightling Park built to resemble Dallington Church, that Fuller had mistakenly wagered he could see from his estate.

It is said that it was once inhabited.


​Date taken: 14/04/2010


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Picture

HARTING                                                                SU 780 176

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Uppark Game Larder

The game larder at Uppark was designed in about 1810 by Humphry Repton for Sir Harry Fetherstonehaugh.

HARTING                                                                 SU 778 176

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Uppark Dairy

The dairy at Uppark was designed by Humphry Repton and built in about 1810 for Sit Harry Fetherstonehaugh. When Sir Harry was over 60 years old he used to look through the window to see the dairy maid, Ann Bullock, who he eventually married.

HARTING                                                                SU 785 182 

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  Vandalian Tower

 
The Vandalian Tower was designed by Henry Keene for      Sir Mathew Featherstonehaugh and built in 1774 to            commemorate a scheme to establish a colony in a              territory in West Virginia that was to be called Vandalia.      Featherstonehaugh died in 1774 and with the outbreak      of the American War of Independence in 1775, the            scheme came to an end.

  The tower had a kitchen and a guest room and is said to    have been used by the Hellfire Club.

HASTINGS                                                              TQ 820 094

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St Clements Caves

The caves, on the West Hill in Hastings, were rediscovered in the 1820s by Joseph Golding, a local grocer. They became a tourist attraction and were visited Prince Albert and Prince George Frederick in 1873.

They were re-opened in 1989 as the Smugglers Adventure, where the history of smuggling is displayed.

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HEATHFIELD AND WALDRON                        TQ 606 209

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Jack Cade's Monument

In 1450, Jack Cade led the men of Kent and Sussex to rebel and march on London. They defeated the Royalist forces at Sevenoaks and beheaded the Lord Treasurer and the Archbishop of Canterbury in London.

Cade was eventually killed by Alexander Iden, Sheriff of Kent, he was hung drawn and quartered and his head was put on a pole on London Bridge.

The monument was erected by Francis Newbury, of Heathfield Park.


HEATHFIELD AND WALRON                           TQ 587 213

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Gibraltar Tower

Francis Newbury commissioned John Crunden to build a tower to commemorate the successful defence of Gibraltar. Brigadier-General George Augustus Elliot was involved with the siege, that was between 1779 and 1783, and was created Baron Heathfield.

Inside the 55 feet high tower, the three rooms were originally decorated with views of Gibraltar that have since been removed. There is a Turner painting in the Tate which includes the tower.

HORSHAM                                                              TQ 160 295

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Tower Hill Tower

 

HURSTPIERPOINT                                              TQ 280 160

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Weeke's Folly

It is said that Richard Weeke, a surgeon at Hurstpierpoint had a tower erected as defence against the French during the Napoleonic Wars. It is more likely that the three-storey crenulated flint and brick tower was built as an ornamental feature in the garden of the Mansion House. 

PETWORTH                                                            SU 970 222

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Boathouse

The boathouse on the Upper Lake at Petworth Park was probably part of Lancelot Brown's design for the park in about 1756.

It is shown in a painting by Turner in 1810.






​Date taken: 02/07/2013

PETWORTH                                                            SU 975 221

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Doric Temple

The Doric Temple in the grounds of Petworth House may have been designed by Thomas Wright in about 1744. It originally stood on Lawn Hill in the Deer Park but was moved under the recommendation of Lancelot Brown in 1752.

​It was restored in 1949.


​
Date taken: 02/07/2013

PETWORTH                                                             SU 976 219

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Fire Engine House

A dairy was built over the icehouse in 1784. After the dairy became disused it was altered to house a fire appliance, ruts were made to guide the wheels and the columns were shaped to allow the appliance through the entrance. 





Date taken: 02/07/2013

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Icehouse

The icehouse was constructed in 1784 and an old one removed. It has three segments. 









​Date taken: 02/07/2013

PETWORTH                                                             SU 975 223

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Ionic Rotunda

The Ionic Rotunda at Petworth House was possibly designed by Matthew Brettinham and built in 1766 for the 2nd Earl of Egremont.







​Date taken: 02/07/2013

ROTHERFIELD                                                     TQ 577 329

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Saxonbury Tower

In 1828, the Marquess of Abergavenny had a tower built on his estate at Eridge Park. Over the doorway are the initials 'H.A', that may stand for Henrietta Abergavenny.


SALVINGTON                                                             TQ 122 066

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Salvington Mill

Salvington Mill has the date 1700 above the door, and was originally known as Durrington Mill. 

It ground corn until 1896 when it was bought by Colonel T F Wisden, and ground animal feed until 1905. 

In 1907, the wooden roundhouse was replaced with a concrete structure and used as a tearoom. 

Worthing Borough Council took over the mill in 1959, and it was renovated by Messes E Hole and Son in 1961. After the sails were damaged in a gale in 1976, the Council began a restoration project to rebuild the roundhouse as it was in 1900 and fully restore the mill. 

SLAUGHAM

Picture
Messel Temple

The Nymans Estate was bought in the 1890s by Ludvig Messel, a wealthy stockbroker originally from Germany.
Inside the Massel Temple is an inscription that reads:
                     THIS BUILDING CELEBRATES
             THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE ARCHITECT
                              ALFRED MESSEL
                   BORN DARMSTADT 22 JULY 1852
                      DIED BERLIN 24 MARCH 1909


Date taken: 02/07/2013

SLAUGHAM

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Nymans Dovecote












Date taken: 02/07/2013

SLAUGHAM

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Loggia

The Loggia at Nymans overlooks the Sunk Garden and was built in the 1920s.









​Date taken: 02/07/2013

SLAUGHAM

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Prospect

A balustraded bastion, known as the Prospect, overlooks the parkland at Nymans.








Date taken: 02/07/2013

SLAUGHAM

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Round House

There is a small rustic Round House in the gardens at Nymans.








Date taken: 02/07/2013

SMALLHYTHE

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  Rustic summerhouse

  Smallhythe Place was the home of Ellen Terry, the       Shakespearean actress, from 1899 to 1928.

  In the garden is a small rustic summerhouse. 






  Date taken: 13/04/2010

STOUGHTON                                                         SU 776 094

Picture
 The Racton Monument

 The Racton Monument was designed by Theodosius   Kelne for George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax,   and built between 1766 and 1775. The four-storey 80   feet high tower may have been for Halifax, who lived at   nearby Stansted Park, to watch his merchant ships dock   at Emsworth harbour.

UPPER BEEDING                           

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Beeding Towers

Beeding Towers was built by architect George Smith and is known as Smith's Folly. Smith, who had been involved with restoration work at Brighton Pavilion, bought the unfinished building and completed it in 1883.

In 1911 the 80 feet high tower was reduced because it was unsafe and the crenulations were replaced with a conical roof.


WESTAMPNETT                                                   SU 888 095

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Carne's Seat

In 1743, Roger Morris, the carpenter and principal engineer to the Board of trade, built a banqueting house in Goodwood Park for the 2nd Duke of Richmond. It was named after an old French retainer of his grandmother, Louise de Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth.

The stone may have come from the ruins of Hove Parish Church. There is an Ionic porch and there are sphinx on each side of the building.

Copyright Ray Blyth 2018