In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly serious and learned admirers of the neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval Gothic architecture, intending to complement or even supersede the neoclassical styles prevalent at the time. Gothic Revival draws upon features of medieval examples, including decorative patterns, finials, lancet windows, and hood moulds. By the middle of the 19th century, Gothic had become the preeminent architectural style in the Western world, only to fall out of fashion in the 1880s and early 1890s.
Severndroog Castle is a folly designed by architect Richard Jupp, with the first stone laid on 2 April 1784.
Hadlow Castle was an 18th-century country house in Hadlow, Kent, England, built in the fashionable Strawberry Hill 'Gothic' style. The house was gradually enlarged and extended during the 19th century and finally demolished in the 20th, apart from a prospect tower and ancillary buildings. The surviving Grade I Listed Hadlow Tower, locally known as May's Folly, was restored in 2013.
Sanderson Miller was an English pioneer of Gothic revival architecture and landscape designer. He is noted for adding follies or other Picturesque garden buildings and features to the grounds of an estate.
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scottish castles, buildings in the Scots baronial style are characterised by elaborate rooflines embellished with conical roofs, tourelles, and battlements with Machicolations, often with an asymmetric plan. Popular during the fashion for Romanticism and the Picturesque, Scots baronial architecture was equivalent to the Jacobethan Revival of 19th-century England, and likewise revived the Late Gothic appearance of the fortified domestic architecture of the elites in the Late Middle Ages and the architecture of the Jacobean era.
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
Douglas Castle was a stronghold of the Douglas family from medieval times to the 20th century. The first castle, erected in the 13th century, was destroyed and replaced several times until the 18th century when a large mansion house was built in its place. This too was demolished in 1938, and today only a single corner tower of the 17th-century castle remains. The castle was the former family seat of the Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home. The castle was located around 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) north-east of the village of Douglas, South Lanarkshire, in south-west Scotland. The remains are protected as a category C listed building.
Sir Walter Calverley Blackett, 2nd Baronet was a British baronet and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1734 to 1777.
Alton Castle is a Gothic-revival castle, on a hill above the Churnet Valley, in the village of Alton, Staffordshire, England. The site has been fortified since Saxon times, with the original castle dating from the 12th century. The current castle was constructed in the mid-19th century by John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, of nearby Alton Towers. Since 1967 the castle has been designated a Grade I listed building. It is also a scheduled ancient monument.
Twizell Castle is a Grade II* listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument which stands on a bend of the River Till at Tillmouth Park, Northumberland, northern England. Below it, the medieval Twizell Bridge spans the river. It is located 10 miles (16 km) south-west of Berwick Upon Tweed. The site is visible from a public footpath, which passes the castle from the road. The gardens of the castle contain the earthwork remains of the once lost medieval village of Twizell, whilst the massive ruin presents the remains of an 18th-century castle which was never completed.
Fonmon Castle is a fortified medieval castle near the village of Fonmon in the Vale of Glamorgan and a Grade I listed building. With its origins rooted in the 12th century it is today seen as a great architectural rarity, as it is one of few buildings that was drastically remodelled in the 18th century, but not Gothicized. The castle is believed to have remained under the ownership of just two families throughout its history; from Norman times, it was owned by the St Johns, and from 1656, by the descendants of Colonel Philip Jones.
Clytha Castle is a folly near Clytha between Llanarth and Raglan in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. Dating from 1790, the castle was built by William Jones, owner of the Clytha Park estate as a memorial to his wife, Elizabeth, who died in 1787. The castle is an example of the Gothic Revival and comprises three towers, of which two are habitable, and linking, castellated curtain walls. Long attributed to John Nash, recent research has confirmed that the architect was John Davenport of Shrewsbury. The folly has views towards the Sugar Loaf and Skirrid mountains on the easternmost edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Described by the architectural historian John Newman as one of the two "outstanding examples of late eighteenth century fanciful Gothic in the county", Clytha Castle is a Grade I listed building.
The Grade I listed buildings in Somerset, England, demonstrate the history and diversity of its architecture. The ceremonial county of Somerset consists of a non-metropolitan county, administered by Somerset County Council, which is divided into five districts, and two unitary authorities. The districts of Somerset are West Somerset, South Somerset, Taunton Deane, Mendip and Sedgemoor. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on 1 April 1996 following the breakup of the county of Avon, are North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were once part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974.
Rothley is a small settlement and civil parish in Northumberland, England about 2 miles (3 km) north east of Cambo and about 6 miles (10 km) west of Morpeth.
The architecture of the United Kingdom, or British architecture, consists of a combination of architectural styles, dating as far back to Roman architecture, to the present day 21st century contemporary. England has seen the most influential developments, though Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have each fostered unique styles and played leading roles in the international history of architecture. Although there are prehistoric and classical structures in the United Kingdom, British architectural history effectively begins with the first Anglo-Saxon Christian churches, built soon after Augustine of Canterbury arrived in Great Britain in 597. Norman architecture was built on a vast scale throughout Great Britain and Ireland from the 11th century onwards in the form of castles and churches to help impose Norman authority upon their dominions. English Gothic architecture, which flourished between 1180 until around 1520, was initially imported from France, but quickly developed its own unique qualities.
Balcarres House lies 1km north of the village of Colinsburgh, in the East Neuk of Fife, in eastern Scotland. It is centred on a mansion built in 1595 by John Lindsay (1552–1598), second son of David, 9th Earl of Crawford. The house became the family seat of the Earl of Crawford. The present house is the result of substantial extensions in the early nineteenth century, using part of a fortune made in India, but preserves much of the original mansion.
Carn Brea Castle on Carn Brea is a 14th-century grade II listed granite stone building which was extensively remodelled in the 18th century as a hunting lodge in the style of a castle for the Basset family. The building is in private use as a restaurant.
The folly castle in the park of Hagley Hall is a Grade II* listed building and the largest building in Hagley Park. It was designed by Sanderson Miller for George Lyllelton in the middle of the 18th century to look like a small ruined medieval castle.
