Tuesday
22nd October, 2002,
Brightling walk |
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Take
a wander around Fuller's Follie in Brightling in this five mile circular
walk starting off at the parish church of Thomas A Becket in East
Sussex. |
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Around Fuller’s
Follies
About the walk: Starting point – Brightling Parish Church of
Thomas a Becket, Brightling Village, East Sussex.
Distance: is about 5 miles and it should take two to three
hours to complete.
Circular walk: Included are 16 structures to view, built by
John Fuller at the beginning of the 19th century.
Information about John Fuller: John Fuller (known
as Jack) came from a family of prosperous investors in the iron industry
and property speculating here and in the American colonies.
In appearance, he was large and portly and rather dominating in Parliament
as a local MP. He likes to be regarded as a man of the people, and
therefore started to construct his follies around his estate as a
source of employment.
His large residence – called ‘Rosehill’ – names after his grandmother
– is close to the Parish churchyard but hidden by tall trees.
Some of his friends were quite distinguished ie: Robert Smirk, a leading
architect who built most of the major buildings in London’s West End
and who designed all of Jack Fuller’s follies.
Another friend was the landscape artist JMW Turner who made numerous
paintings viewed from his estate and locations nearby.
Directions and points of interest: The walk starts from the
Brightling Parish Church of Thomas a’Becket.
In the churchyard a large pyramid dominates all the memorial gravestones.
Jack Fuller is interred there, as in life, he liked to be amongst
his people! From Brightling, the route continues for about a mile
in a westerly direction, passing the lodge to his estate until both
the Observatory and Obelisk (Brightling Needle) is seen.
This is on the main road from Burwash to Woodscomer. Jack had interests
in science and technology which promoted the building of the observatory,
together with the Obelisk a 1000 yards away.
Both structures are on the second highest point in Sussex. The observatory
is now a private swelling. Branching west from this road onto a trackway,
a view south reveals in the distance both the Dallington Steeple and
its so-called replica, a cone shaped monument at Woods Corner. This
monument was built to settle a wager with a friend proving that you
could see the Dallington Church steeple from the home of his estate.
However, only the cone shaped monument could be seen – but who was
to know! Thus Jack Fuller won his bet.
The route now continues in an easterly direction through a large wood
and then turning northeast into an open field, where high on the slope
is the classical structure of the Rotunda Temple. Its base may have
been used as storage for wines or smuggler’s wares. However, Jack
used to hold summer parties to entertain his lady friends and also
held gambling sessions.
Crossing the Brightling Road the final structure is seen. This is
the Tower which commands views across the Darwell Reservoir and also
Bodiums Castle, seven miles away. This was useful, as Jack Fuller
needed to oversea the reconstruction and materials needed for this
castle. He also built a light-house near Beachy Head in replica of
his tower.
Jack Fuller had a stone wall built around the perimeter of his estate
by unemployed workers. This was repaired recently by the Manpower
Workers Commission Council – history repeating itself! Also some of
these structures had been renovated by various sources, such as British
Gypsum Sussex Historical Gardens Restoration Society and the Sussex
County Council.
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