Why the British produce the best follies in the world
by Harry Mount
The Telegraph
December 27th, 2011
There’s a sad report in today’s Telegraph on the state of Britain’s follies. According to the doyen of the folly world, Gwyn Headley, far too many of them are at risk of crumbling into neglect.
We may not match the Italians for grand art or architecture but, when it comes to follies, we reign supreme. Somewhere, buried deep in the British artistic mind, is the overpowering British desire to crack a joke. Follies are a punchline in stone – the little building on the horizon that takes the edge off the grandness of the great Palladian pile in the valley below.
There are follies all over the world, but Britain remains the international folly capital. Stowe, begun by the Temple-Grenville Whig dynasty in the 18th century, has more follies than anywhere else on the planet. Among the highlights are pavilions by Gibbs, Doric and Corinthian arches, a menagerie, Dido”s Cave, Vanbrugh”s Rotondo, Queen Caroline”s Monument, and temples to Venus, to Ancient and Modern Virtue, to Friendship and to British Worthies. Continue reading “Britain: International Capital of Follies”