
The usual fare here is history, but this month we start with some news, and not good at that, but we follow with some history which sheds light on the news aspect, and indicates why it is a tragedy. The circular structure, the round building or deer shelter as its listing states, off to the left as you proceed up the main driveway at Parlington has collapsed, leaving only one arch left standing. There was an earlier fall which was reported to the estate managers back in 2010, but this recent event is more or less terminal. It is likely the remaining stone walls will need to be taken down, if only for safety purposes.
The building is grade two listed and has been on the endangered list for some time, but raising the alarm and getting someone to do something about it are poles apart. Its description as a deer shelter has never convinced me that was its purpose, as I noted here in an earlier article in the spring of 2019. The fact of each opening having a stone threshold, above the ground level suggests a raised floor in its original use, along with a central column, are not features for animal use.
When first built, around 1805, more or less based on a design by the Doncaster architect William Lindley, it sported a central stone column and the thatched roof structure of a king post pattern, although no doubt modified to accommodate the circular construction. At the summit of the conical roof was a weather vane, Lindley’s drawings show a fox in full tilt as the actual directional device.
Two years after its construction during the events associated with young Tom Gascoigne attaining his majority on the 7th January 1807 a great festive gathering was held in Parlington Park where around two thousand visitors were entertained by the exercise of horses from Sir Thomas Gascoigne’s stud. From newspaper accounts of the time at three o’clock in the afternoon “… a very handsome cold collation was given to the populace assembled in the park, consisting of the true old English fare, roast beef and strong beer.”
If you consider the event, the entire fulfilment of the food and drink might well have been delivered from suitable tables in the round building, a buffet served up to the gathered throng of guests. I think the building would have been an excellent venue for such an event. Newly built and a prominent feature in the park it would have served as an excellent centre piece for the celebratory occasion. The real tragedy is similar events are not something which will ever happen again!