The other shell grotto

 

This'll be a quickie. If you've been following the blog for a while then you'll know I absolutely love follys. A lot of urbexers dismiss them in favour of larger places, but when I've got a quiet day and have nowhere to go but just want to get out, you know what's there for me? That's right, Alcoholism Follys! They were all the rage back in the day, and tend to be on the land of former wealthy estates, elaborately decorated with sea shells that probably took some poor labourer hours to arrange only for it all to end up quietly ignored in a field for the next century or so. I've covered shell grottos before, both on this blog and my travel blog. This one is lesser known but that just adds to the intrigue.

 

 

It's sort of semi-circular and semi-subterranean, and mainly consists of a bench around the rear wall. Presumably there was once a small circular coffee table in there too. I imagine back in the day the home owners would have sat here and chilled out in their fancy garden, and talked about rich people stuff.

 

It's the ceiling that really makes this place special. It's absolutely covered in sea shells, all in marvelous fancy patterns. But despite being quite the little gem, there's actually very little information available about this place. Common sense tells me that this must have been part of a wealthy estate at some point, so I started my research looking at local fancy digs in the 1800s, when shell grottos were all the rage. 

 

Turns out there were a number of swanky digs in proximity of this quirky little place, but two such places stand out. They were both once part of the same estate, encompassing a manor and home farm. And as luck would have it, there's one old book about the local history that makes mention of these two properties splitting, and the home farm, redesignated a "Gentlemans Residence," having a pleasure garden built. 

Doesn't the term "Gentleman's Residence" sound sleazy though? At best it probably just means Man Cave, but I live in a Man Cave and I know full well that if I started referring to it as a Gentleman's Residence, people would be knocking asking how much the girls cost.

But no, A Gentleman's Residence is actually a legitimate term for a house that isn't quite a stately home but still has a myriad of fancy features.

 

The main manor was obtained in 1806 by two brothers, John and Charles, although a conflicting source puts their purchase around 1830.That's quite an annoying discrepancy but hey-ho.

It's said that it's entirely possible that John was the one who started building the pleasure garden, but given that his manor was taken over by his sister Elizabeth and her husband Another Charles, it doesn't really seem likely, unless he intended it to be a gift.

 

The pleasure garden was for the "Gentlemans Residence," and that was obtained by a Mr Lloyd around 1830. He described himself as a Gentleman Farmer, which according to the internet is basically someone who farms for fun rather than for sustenance or livelihood. He lived here with his wife, Sarah, but she slipped away somewhere between the 1841 and 1851 census. I can't pinpoint a date of death. I'm not going to try, to be honest. Have you any idea how many Sarah Lloyds lived in Shropshire at that time? About fifty.

But that's okay. I don't really want to answer too many questions. I don't think follys have a big mystery to be solved. They aren't here for the saga. They're here so that we can just appreciate their quirkiness.

 

After Sarah's death, the elderly Mr Lloyd was said to have a plentiful amount of servants to keep him company, which is kinda nice.

I'm not sure when or why the pleasure garden fell out of use, but this grotto does seem to be all that remains of it.

 

 

Even the doorway has shell detail. I absolutely love it. It's a massive shame that so much effort went into building something that has spent the majority of its existence unappreciated.

 

 

But check out the ceiling! The shells form a big central circle, now covered in cobwebs, and then there's smaller stars around it. 

 

 

It's so cool! How long did this take to do?

 

But that's all I've got for this place. There's nothing too epic. There's no grand saga. And there doesn't really need to be, does there? I'm just glad these places exist. It's enough for me to know that one day, some rich people sat here to enjoy the sunny day, have a drink and a natter, not realising that two hundred years later some filthy peasant would be photographing it and marveling at the cobwebbed conches.

Loose End Season chugs along and I am loving it. 

 

But that's enough for now. My next blog will be on the travel blog, and it's something monumentally epic. I don't want to say what it is just yet, but it's raising the bar somewhat. It will be difficult to go back to poking around abandoned houses after this one. But that's exactly what I plan on doing.

 

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Thanks for reading! Stay Sexy!