#christopher gee

In the middle of the eighteenth century Ralph Allen, who had both a Bath townhouse and the Prior Park estate in a fine landscape just out of town, erected a gothic eye-catcher on high ground above Bath.  The folly took the form of a turreted and castellated screen, unadorned at the back and intended only to be viewed from the city. By the end of the eighteenth century the folly had become known…

The Folly Flâneuse is delighted to feature here some drawings and paintings by artist Christopher Gee. Follies are often the subject of his work, as the small selection pictured here shows. Christopher’s sparing use of colour and unadorned backgrounds perfectly capture the lonely and exposed situations of many hilltop towers and sham castles. (more…) “”

Horton Tower, or Sturt’s Folly, Horton, Dorset

Horton Tower, also known as Sturt’s Folly, is one of those enigmatic erections whose history is vague and usually explained in sentences that begin ‘said to have been…’. What is not in question is its magnificence: seven stories of red brick soaring skywards in the middle of a field.  (more…)