Midford Castle is a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

castle in the village of

Midford Midford is a village approximately south-south-east of Bath, Somerset, England. Although relatively small, it extends over 2 counties (Wiltshire and Somerset), is part of two unitary authorities (Wiltshire and Bath and North East Somerset) and i ...

, and the parish of

Southstoke Southstoke is a small village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in north east Somerset, England. In 2004 the parish council requested that the name be formally changed to South Stoke, as "this is historically the more established spe ...

south of Bath,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The castle was built in 1775 for

Henry Disney Roebuck Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

from designs by John Carter in the shape of the "

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

" symbol used in

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

s (♣). It has been suggested, originally in a magazine article in 1899, that he asked for the clubs design to represent an ace of clubs because he had obtained the money for the castle from gambling on a card game, but this is unlikely, as the porch which creates the "stem" of the symbol was added later. It is more likely that the layout was taken from an article which had been published in Builder's Magazine in 1774. The house has a sub triangular or trefoil plan formed by 3 semi-circular towers conjoined in a

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style. It has been designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. In 1810, the castle was bought by one of the Conollys of

Castletown House Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. Sold to developers in 1965, the estate ...

in County Kildare, who added the porch (said to give the clubs symbol its stalk) and built the nearby stables and chapel, known as the priory. The latter fell into disrepair after the last of the Conollys sold the house in 1901. Soon after 1810 Kingham Field, which was part of the estate, was operating as a stone quarry similar to the nearby

Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines Combe Down and Bathampton Down Quarries () make up a 6.22 hectare (15.37 acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Bath and North East Somerset, England, important for its bat population. The disused quarries date from the 17th and 18t ...

. William Smith, who became known as "Father of English

Geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

", proposed conveying the stone by a railway down to

Tucking Mill Tucking Mill is a small hamlet within the parish of Monkton Combe, Somerset, England. It lies on Midford Brook and was a key point on the now disused Somerset Coal Canal. It is at the southern end of the Two Tunnels Greenway which follows the ...

where it would be sawn by machinery, and then loaded on to canal barges and transported via the

Somerset Coal Canal The Somerset Coal Canal (originally known as the Somersetshire Coal Canal) was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800. Its route began in basins at Paulton and Timsbury, ran to nearby Camerton, over two aqueducts at Dunkerton, through a ...

and the Kennet and Avon Canal to Bath and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In April 1814, Smith mortgaged the remainder of his estate to Charles Conolly who then controlled the railway and probably extended it to his Vinegar Down Quarry. The scheme failed and in 1819 Conolly had Smith committed to the

King's Bench Prison The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were hea ...

for debt and took over the sawmill and Smith's house at Tucking Mill.

Michael Fenwick Briggs Michael Fenwick Briggs (7 July 1926 – 22 July 2017) was a British businessman who led preservation work in Bath, Somerset. The son of Dennis B. Briggs, of Oxford, and Grace Mary Davey Luke, Briggs was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and Mert ...

and his wife Isabel (better known by her pen name of

Isabel Colegate Isabel Diana Colegate (10 September 1931 – 12 March 2023) was a British author and literary agent. Early life and education Born in Paddington in London, England, Colegate was the youngest of her parents' four daughters. Her father was Sir ...

) bought Midford in 1961 and carried out extensive renovation work; which included incorporating the chapel into the garden as a picturesque ruin. In July 2007, the castle was sold to actor

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...

for £5 million. Cage sold the castle in 2009. The castle is listed Grade I on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

. The castle grounds also include the Grade II listed archway with lodge and screen wall, a pair of gatepiers and gates, and the Grade II* listed group of the stables, old chapel, walls enclosing the stable yard, coach house and greenhouse. The priory 500 yards to the north east of the castle is Grade II listed.

References

{{reflist, 33em Castles in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset Grade II listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset Houses completed in 1775 Folly castles in England Country houses in Somerset Grade I listed castles Grade I listed houses in Somerset Combe Down

See also

References