Summary

The folly façade of The Jungle, built about 1820 for Samuel Russell Collett in the form of a sham castle.

Description

The folly façade of The Jungle, built about 1820 for Samuel Russell Collett in the form of a sham castle.

MATERIALS: the façade is built of overburnt brick rubble with timber and stone dressings.

PLAN: the frontage of the Jungle is situated to the west side of the building and is orientated on a north-south axis. The building to the rear of the façade is not included in this List entry.

EXTERIOR: the folly facade of The Jungle is in the form of a sham castle set over two storeys and is roughly crenelated, with square and half round turrets at either end. The square, south turret has arrow slits. The north, half round turret has pointed arch windows with sashes complete with glazing bars. In the centre is a bowed porch featuring a low, teardrop shaped door. To the left of the porch is a doorway through a pointed stone arch. The window and door frames between the turrets are made of oak branches forming rough gothick ogee arches with crazed leaded lights within Y-bars. The branches forming the frame of the window above the porch join at the sill forming an oval shape.

History

The Jungle was built in the early C19 for Samuel Russell Collett. It was composed of a brick farmhouse which featured a picturesque façade in the form of a ruinous castle. The house was described in an account by Major-General Lofts in 1826, who noted that Collett had established a small private zoo in the parkland around the Jungle where he kept deer, buffalo, pheasants and kangaroos.

By the end of the C19 the building was composed of a roughly rectangular block orientated on a north-south axis, with ancillary wings projecting north-east. This form appears to have changed very little until the late C20 when the house behind the west façade was demolished. A new mansion was built behind the folly in 1976 (not included in the listing).

Reasons for Listing

The folly façade to The Jungle is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:
* For its unusual and whimsical design in the form of a sham castle;
* For its skilful design, construction and craftsmanship which gives the intentional impression of a romantic ruin.
Historic Interest:
* For its survival as a rare example of an early-C19 picturesque folly facade fronting a dwelling.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17549171

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)