Wroxton Follies
Banbury, Oxfordshire
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Quick Guide
See below grid for details |
3 follies and an impressive house and grounds
that are now a College. The follies can be visited on a foot path.
Picture by
E Gammie
Wroxton follies are near Wroxton Abbey, they
can be seen by following a footpath. The following table gives details of what
you will see along the route.
| Grid ref |
Item |
Description |
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SP414417 |
Wroxton Abbey
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Wroxton Abbey
is a 17th century Jacobean mansion, built in ochre Horton stone, with
slate-roofed gables and at least twelve chimneys, with 45 bedrooms, a
chapel, a great hall and a library. It is
built on the foundations of a 13th century Augustinian monastery and is
thought to have been erected in the 1600's, by William Pope.
It
has a landscaped garden by Tilleman Bobart, created in
1728. Between 1731-1751, the garden was partly converted into a Serpentine
style, possibly to the design of Lord North, later to become the
Earl of Guildford. This centred upon 2 lakes, these being divided
by a cascade and rocaille, and a twisting serpentine river. There
is also a routine, Roman Doric Temple, with a classic 4 column
portico. In
the twentieth century, a pretty knot garden was also added.
The
Abbey is now converted into a Fairleigh Dickinson College, where
American students study.
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Footpath start |
Dark Lane, 100 yards up the road from the Abbey's front gates. |
|
SP415416 |
Wroxton Dovecote |
The
Wroxton Dovecote is a somewhat dumpy, octagonal tower in
a Gothic style, with battlements. It is sometimes referred to as
the Wroxton Castle.
Built
by Sanderson Miller, a local architect 1716-1780, he was a pioneer
of Gothic Revival architecture. He had inherited Radway Grange a few miles away. Miller is noted as being one of the great folly
builders, his many other works include the mock sham castles at Hagley Hall, and at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire. Finished
in 1745, this little neo-Gothic Dovecote folly tower overlooks the
front drive of the Abbey. Mr. Miller constructed it from large bricks
of varying sizes in sandstone, the structure rising about 35ft to a viewing platform.
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SP419412 |
Wroxton Obelisk |
The
Wroxton Obelisk, is around 50ft high. It is square, and tapers off to a pyramid. It was
commissioned by Francis North, the Earl of Guildford, to commemorate
the visit to Wroxton and the Banbury races, by the Prince of
Wales, Frederick of Hanover in 1739. |
|
SP428410 |
Wroxton
Arch or Drayton Arch |
The
Wroxton Arch or Drayton Arch, as it is also known, 2
40ft towers with an arch between. It is said to be one of the finest eye
catchers, or "notable object", follies in England. It is positioned in a
clearing placed at the summit of a hill, It allows the visitor
commanding views back across the fields to the Obelisk and, probably
before the trees grew up, a view to the Abbey. |
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Page Ref:
Wroxton_Follies |
Classification:
Follies |
Date Updated: 10/2008 |
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