Description

ST 35 NE BANWELL BANWELL HILL

4/2 Bone Cave entrance

G.V. II

Picturesque garden feature. Early C19. Unworked stone, brick grotto and high
walled path leading to arched and decorated entrance to cave. A part retaining
wall of random rubble pierced by 2 low pointed arches to right, 1 larger raised
above wall height to left; wall pierced with small round headed niches at
regular intervals; behind 2 arches to right is a semicircular grotto with
5 plastered niches and a flat brick ceiling; a tooled stone, lozenge shaped
table stands in the centre on a random rubble upright; a pyramidal cap surmounts
the grotto entrance, a small marble plaque bears the text: "Here, where once
druids trod in time of yore/And stain'd their altars with a victim's gore/ Here
now the christian ransom'd from above/Adores a god of mercy and of love.'
Behind arch to left a path between 1.5 metre walls swings right, a large niche on
each side, to round arched entrance; within, a final stone arch bears a (barely
legible) plaque with the legend -/B/R/1804; below the arch is an arched pair of
whale bones. One of an extensive set of picturesque estate features erected by
the antiquarian Bishop Law of Bath and Wells on his Banwell estate.

Listing NGR: ST3820458812

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26606633

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)