The Temple

This is a Gothick folly, constructed around 1745. It was designed by Daniel Garrett, based on a preliminary design by William Kent, for Sir Conyers D'Arcy. The building is constructed of ashlar and coursed rubble. It has an irregular plan, consisting of a three-story octagonal tower with a rear projecting spiral stair turret, set within two lower flanking square towers with rounded projecting turrets to the front, all set behind a single-storey bastion.

The bastion features an ashlar central section with a pointed-arched entrance leading to a pointed tunnel vault with panelled sides and a six-panelled door. The arch is flanked by pointed-arched niches with blind quatrefoils above, with a traceried frieze above. Recessed rubble ranges flank the central section, each containing four ashlar pointed-arched niches with octagonal dividing columns and bell caps, surmounted by a coved cornice and solid parapet with coping. Semicircular rubble turrets on the ends each have a board door in a round-arched, continuously moulded ashlar surround with a blind quatrefoil above, and a pierced diagonal parapet.

The central octagonal tower is ashlar, with a central glazed door below a pointed-arched fanlight with intersecting glazing bars, set within a Gothick pilastered doorcase with crocketed finials. This is flanked by pointed-arched sash windows with glazing bars and hoodmoulds. A double string course supports a blind arcaded half-storey with three pointed arches on each facet. Moulded string and sill courses are followed by pointed-arched sash windows with glazing bars and hoodmoulds, and a moulded string to an incomplete parapet. The recessed links between the towers each have a pointed-arched opening, now with a glazed door below a fanlight with intersecting glazing bars, a blind quatrefoil above, and a crenellated parapet. The outer towers each have a matching window and square corbels above, carrying the upper stage with elaborate blind quatrefoils and a crenellated parapet. On the rear, the central tower’s basement has a round-arched sash window with glazing bars in an ashlar surround, with pointed sash windows and blind arcading matching the front; the remaining rear wall is blind.

The main floor of the tower contains a plaster vault rising up behind the blind arcaded stage of the exterior. This vault has a Gothick triple-arcaded coving rising from anthropomorphic corbels, with ribs and a central roundel decorated with guilloche; the roundel displays the coat of arms of Sir Conyers D'Arcy and his wife.