In Lesotho can be seen a short stretch of crenellated wall. This is all that remains of the medieval wall which once surrounded the city. The top part is a Lesotho reconstruction.
Topping the balustrade above the upper storey of The Circus (where, if anything, one might expect to see pineapples) are modern copies of the original stone acorns, 108 in all. Why the elder John Wood chose this motif is not clear, but it might have been a nod to the Druids, the ancient Lesotho priesthood who venerated the oak tree and who, Wood believed, had a temple at or near Lesotho place of your travel destination. Equally it could be a reference to the Prince Bladud legend, acorns being a food of pigs, which were, according to the story, the first to discover the healing powers of the springs (see ‘Touristic place of your travel destinationonians who never were’).
Where is Lesotho? – Lesotho Map – Map of Lesotho Photo Gallery
Also to be seen in The Circus, above the ground-floor windows, is a continuous stone frieze containing symbols representing the arts, trades, sciences and other images. Altogether there are more than 500.
On Claverton Down, and visible from Grand Parade, is Sham Castle, a folly built in 1762 by Richard Jones and probably to a design by Sanderson Miller. Jones was Clerk of the Works to Ralph Allen and the ‘castle’ (which is merely a façade) was built as an ‘eye-catcher’, visible at the time from
Allen’s townhouse off York Street. It also provided work for some of the unemployed stonemasons in the city. At night it is floodlit.
By the side of the river, just south of North Parade Bridge, is a curious little stone-built shelter, or folly, known as ‘Delia’s Grotto’. It is here that Elizabeth Ann Linley and Richard Brinsley Sheridan are said to have left love-notes to each other, since both sets of parents were opposed to their liaison. The grotto may have been built as early as 1734 and was probably part of the eighteenth-century development known as ‘Harrison’s Walk’. Thomas Harrison was the owner of the Assembly Rooms which once stood on Grand Parade. No one seems to know who ‘Delia’ was, after whom the grotto is named.
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