FOLLIES OF EUROPE: architectural extravaganzas. Caroline Holmes Garden Art Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2008. Hardback, 256 pages. £35.00. ISBN 13: 978-1870673563

Ever since the early eighteenth century, masonic writers have shone a light on the disciplines of geometry and architecture, as they were said to hold a special place in the history and development of the modern Free and Accepted Masonry.
     However, these disciplines were not exalted simply because of the much trumpeted connection with the working stonemasons of yore. On the contrary, the eighteenth-century masonic writers were clearly cognisant of a rich stream of allegory and symbolism that permeates almost every level of architectural endeavour. And yet, peculiarly, there is one such endeavour, heavily laden with these qualities, that has been all but ignored by masonic historians, and that is the design of gardens and their follies. It is therefore a pleasure to introduce a book which examines this somewhat neglected topic.
     This is a beautifully presented, coffee-table book that divides into four chapters which focus upon topics such as ‘Allegory & Fantasy’, ‘Classicism & Grandeur’, and ‘Romanticism & Innovation’. From the spectacular sixteenth-century renaissance gardens of Villa d’Este at Tivoli near Rome, to the eccentric gardens of Portmeirion at Gwynedd, North Wales (gardens that will be forever associated with the 1960s cult television series The Prisoner), this tome is sumptuously illustrated throughout and the stunning photographs of Nic Barlow act as a perfect foil to the insightful and lucid text of garden historian, Caroline Holmes.
     It should be noted, however, that many of the gardens featured in this work do not have any known masonic connections. That said, it does feature many gardens that do or might have, and these include the Triangular Lodge at Rushton, Northamptonshire, built by recusant Elizabethan nobleman, Sir Thomas Tresham, those at Schloss Schwetzingen near Heidelberg in Germany or at Désert de Ratz near Chambourcy, west of Paris, The Royal Pavilion at Brighton (the eccentric creation of George IV), or the enigmatic gardens of Quinta la Regaleira at Sintra in south-west Portugal. But due to the limitations of this review, I leave to the reader to find out what possible associations there might be with the aforementioned sites. Recommended.

Matthew Scanlan

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