LORD LITTLEHAMPTONS FOLLY When we were on holiday in Norfolk a couple of years ago, Andy picked up a copy of Osbert Lancasters book THE LITTLEHAMPTON SAGA. The second part of this quietly chucklesome architectural satire is entitled DRAYNEFLETE REVEALED, and it takes the reader on an historical overview of the fictional town of Drayneflete from Roman times to, alas, the architectural iniquities of the twentieth century. Eighteenth-century Drayneflete, however, was adorned with Lord Littlehamptons Folly, which Mr Lancaster describes as an architectural curiosity expressly designed to display correct examples of all the five great schools of architecture. He continues: On the ground level was a square pavilion from the facades of which projected classical porticos, in the Ionic, Doric, Corinthian and Tuscan orders respectively, adorned with numerous busts of Vitruvius, Palladio, Inigo Jones and other worthies. On this rested a Gothic octagon, pierced with traceried windows and sustained by flying buttresses, supporting a three-storied Chinese pagoda, that terminated in a cupola in the Hindoo taste. Under the whole structure was an Egyptian crypt. Completed in 1799, this curious freak remained intact until the night of its noble builders death, when the oriental or uppermost sections were struck by lightning at the very hour when Lord Littlehampton was breathing his last. The Gothic octagon survived until 1983, when it was removed as being unsafe; while the classical pavilion on the ground floor remained comparatively intact until it was taken over by an AA battery as living quarters for the ATS in 1941. Today all that remains is the Egyptian crypt which rendered yeoman service as an air-raid shelter for the inmates of the County Lunatic Asylum throughout the blitz. As soon as I saw Mr Lancasters drawing of this gorgeously eclectic monstrosity, I knew Id have to have a go at making it out of cardboard. So here it is. As you can see, I have not included the Egyptian crypt, which, like Mr Lancaster before me, I leave to your imagination. Neither was there room for the buttresses in the Gothic octagon, Mr Lancasters drawing (which I also include) in fact suggesting an element that I could find no practical way of including. I also lack the busts of Vitruvius and Palladio. Sadly, too, my niches have no saints in them them, but they do have medieval knights, which I found in a National Trust gift shop and sprayed gold. The Chinese bells are merely gilt beads. Everything else is made out of Waitrose pizza boxes!
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 09:53:17 +0000
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