LADY COVENTRY’S FOLLY

Amble around the base of Broadway Tower, with the building rising another 65 feet above you, and you will begin to understand the attraction of this unique place. Sixteen counties are majestically laid out before you as you stroll around the Tower, leading the eye in a 62-mile radius from the Brecon Beacons to Birmingham and all the way to Buckingham.

On clear days you will run out of fingers counting the counties before you.

This is a timeless vista of phantom outlines encompassing Neolithic settlements, Bronze and Iron Age forts and long lost Roman villas. Beneath you are the fossilised remains of Jurassic sea creatures that lived and hunted in the shallow, warm seas in this landscape 200 million years ago. Toward the western horizon are the Malvern Hills, with rocks among the oldest in England, stretching back 700 million years to the Precambrian age, when the Midlands were at the edge of a deep ocean with volcanic islands.

It is hardly surprising that over thousands of years beacons and bonfires have flared from this point on Beacon Hill at 1,026 feet (313?m) above sea level, sending signals of celebration, jubilees or warning flickering across the landscape.

Ancient trading routes converged on this spot and Broadway became a centre of wealth as the wool trade and commerce flourished after the Dissolution of the Monasteries between 1536 and 1541. Stagecoach travel brought further wealth in the 16th century when the busy London to Worcester route passed through Broadway.

It was in 1761 that the Spring Hill estate and later the common land on Beacon Hill came into the possession of William George, 6th Earl of Coventry. The Earl had already inherited Croome Court on the death of his father ten years previously and, following the fashion, he set about remodelling the Jacobean residence and “improving” the surrounding landscape. To execute the task, he asked the man for whom this was his first major commission, and who was to become “England’s greatest gardener”: Lancelot (Capability) Brown. In addition both Robert Adams and James Wyatt continued to add to the design with temples and follies throughout the park.

Of critical importance to this story, and to the Earl’s project, was the remarkable woman who became the second Lady Coventry. In 1760 the Earl’s first wife, Lady Maria, died and in 1765 William married Barbara St. John, not only wealthy but described as beautiful, charming, graceful and with a great sense of fun. Lady Barbara loved the countryside, plants and animals, and immersed herself in her husband’s plans. Where Lady Maria’s attention had been focussed on fashionable London, Lady Barbara’s life interest lay at Croome Court and rural Worcestershire. This second marriage was a love match and Broadway Tower became a token of that enduring love.

So in 1794 a Tower was planned, originally the brainchild of Capability Brown. However, Brown died in 1783 on the way home from dinner with the Earl and it fell to James Wyatt to start building the Tower in 1798.

The 18th century was the age of building and landscaping, done with an eye for creating

picturesque and fanciful views. Romance was added to the landscape with “follies”, in the form of purpose-built “ruins” or mock mediaeval castles or abbeys. Broadway Tower is just such a “Gothic” folly, a distant, albeit integral part of the 6th Earl’s main estate of Croome Court.

Wyatt’s “Saxon” design was actually a mixture of early styles; but in a folly atmosphere mattered more than accuracy. Since towers were associated with mediaeval or earlier Saxon castles, and were the products of a dimly-perceived antiquity, dark stone was imported to enhance the illusion that this new building was a ruined remnant of a darker age.

Wyatt’s design was effective – and the brooding, isolated landmark was built to a historic design that looked back a thousand years to an idealised Saxon past. Its battlements, gargoyles and tall turrets create a striking impression around a six-sided central tower with a turret at each alternate corner. Yet the generous windows, grotesque gargoyles and decorative balconies tell us this fanciful “Saxon” tower was built for pleasure, not battle.

In this location fires and beacons had been lit for generations. Only a year before the building of the Tower began, Beacon Hill had been illuminated by celebrations for Admiral Duncan’s naval victory over the Dutch in October 1797 – and the fireworks and the excitement enthralled Lady Barbara.

The Tower became a symbol of so many of the enthusiasms and aesthetic passions of Lady Barbara and the 6th Earl of Coventry. It reflects the tastes of their age. However, unlike most other follies, built to please the eye, Broadway Tower was in fact completed as a very “usable” space – and over time, because of its charm, size and position, it has had many uses, accommodating printers, glove makers, farmers, poets, artists and philosophers among others. For its original owners though, the Tower was a place of entertainment, a romantic landmark, a sign of wealth and modern thinking, and more personally, it was a lasting love token from the Earl to his beloved wife.

It is said that the Tower was used as the perfect signalling station from which to warn staff at Croome Court, some 22 miles (36?km) away, that the Earl, Lady Barbara and their hunting party were on their way home from the nearby Spring Hill estate – and so to prepare food and make ready the warming pans.

Sadly, neither the 6th Earl, nor his wife lived long to enjoy the pleasures of the Tower: Lady Barbara died in 1804 and George William in 1809.

Unlike other folies, built to please they eye, the Tower is in fact a very ‘usable’ space.