Some Frequently Asked Questions!

Was the Grotto a rich man’s folly?
A popular theory with some, who cite the popularity of follies and shell structures in the 1700s. There are lots of them dotted around the country, largely in the grounds of stately homes, and this is certainly a convenient theory but one that is flawed because:

• The land the Grotto lies under was farmland and has certainly never formed part of a large estate. So why would a rich man’s fancy be built under someone else’s pastureland?

• Follies were built as a statement: look at how much money I have, look at how cultured I am, look at me! In general, they weren’t secret, hidden away places. And they weren’t built under a farmer’s field.

• Crucially, if the Grotto had been built in the 1700s how could all knowledge of it have disappeared by the time of its discovery in 1835? The building of the Grotto would have been a mammoth task: the excavation of the passageways, transporting 4.6 million shells to the site, sorting those shells and enlisting enough labour to create the mosaic. How to do all this on rising open ground, next to a busy track without anyone noticing? Every townsperson would have had to be in on the secret and not breathed a word about it.