Cardinals Folly

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Nick
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Cardinals Folly

Post by Nick »

Where do you think DW got his inspiration for Richard Eatons' house Cardinals Folly? There is a fairly comprehensive description in DRO, and it would be fun to draw a plan of the house and the gardens. Not that I've got the time of course Charles can you hear me! Sharpen your pencil old freind we've
got a job for you....... :D
Charles
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Post by Charles »

Dear Nick

Well, my friend, you're certainly a bad influence today !

I've been shying away from thinking about Cardinals Folly for far too long ...

Can anyone answer Nick's question ?

If not, I'll have to see what I can do !!!

Good for you Nick in getting our grey cells going again ... not in my case that there are too many of them left ....

All best !
Charles
K R Cope

Post by K R Cope »

Dear Nick/Charles

I've wondered a few times if there was a real house which inspired Cardinals Folly (remembering, of course, the mention of Grove Place in the Roger Brooks novels), but I can't recall at the moment if there is enough information in DRO to pin down exactly where it might have been on the map, either in real life or in imagination.

I do remember, though, the description of the house and garden, which I think was quite detailed. Vivien has just suggested it could be fun if we each tried to draw a sketch plan of our interpretation of this, and then see how they compare. Any interest in that? :)

Regards to all,
Ken
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Post by Nick »

Great Idea I'm up for it! If Cardinals Folly follows the layout of most smallerEnglish buildings that do not qualify as 'Stately Homes' it should be quite easy...OK from memory we have Kithchen quarters, servants quarters, kitchen, Library (of course) Marie Lou's sitting room upstairs. Bathroom upstairs.The nursery up a flight of stairs from a door in the Library with the Nurses room next door with an open fire with a metal fire gaurd. Boiler room Green houses with strawberries, lawns hand cut, private garden leading to a meadow with the hangar for Rchard Eatons 'plane (All this from DRO) Strange conflict adds two wine cellars one used and one empty. Numerous smaller rooms both upstairs and down (inhabited by poltergeists in Strange Conflict) And whether DW had it in his mind or not the entrance in my mind will always be the same as the Corus Hotel at Elstree.....Draughtsmen forward please
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Post by Charles »

Given how Grove Place was used in the Roger Brook novels, I too had wondered if Cardinals Folly - and certain other places mentioned in the books - were based on real places.

In due course I am sure Phil Baker's book will throw some light on this, but in the meantime I got a friend in the office who is an absolute whiz at finding things on the Internet to see if he could find a pub which was called, or had once been called 'The Pride of Peacocks'.

He drew a blank.

But as they say in the X Files, the truth is out there, somewhere .... .... ....

All best !
Charles
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Post by Alan »

>I got a friend in the office who is an absolute whiz at finding things on the Internet to see if he could find a pub which was called, or had once been called 'The Pride of Peacocks'.

He drew a blank.


This is a *very* long shot, but - I know in my own writing I often "paraphrase" the names of real places. For example, Brisbane's "Queen Street" becomes "Monarch St", Gladstone (a town in Queensland) becomes "'D'israeli", etc... You might try looking for a pub/inn called "A Pelican in her Piety" which is a recognised heraldric term, and might have seemed like a good name for a pub. If that fails, try synonyms for "pride" coupled with various birds, ie "The Arrogance of Robins"... Well, I SAID 'twas a long shot... :-D
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Post by ken68 »

ok, taking on what everyone has suggested and looking back on DRO i have had a look at google earth and think i may have tracked down the Pride of Peacocks at least.

Warminster Rd
Stapleford, Salisbury, SP3 4LT, United Kingdom

+44 1722 792642‎



http://maps.google.com/maps?latlng=1416 ... N&oi=&sa=X

have posted a link. possible convention venue?

seems to meet most of the criteria from book and convention.

ken
Nick
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Post by Nick »

Sorry but Wilkes and the Pride of Peacocks were to be found 'over the fields' in the village at Cardinals Folly near Kidderminster, no where near Salisbury. Not one to make negative comments without some effort on my part I've tracked down a Peacock Inn at Tenbury Wells, about 15 miles from Kidderminster, Could this be it?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/73274 ... shire.html
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Post by duncanpaul17 »

If its anything like the Country pubs near where I live the Pride of Peacocks is now probably somebody's private house, with its named changed to Peacock Lodge.
ken68
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Post by ken68 »

this paddy burt gets about abit doesn't he.
knew that was to good to be nick. worth a try. i was working on the premise that after spending the night at stonehenge they had arrived at follys for breakfast,on re reading i see that isn't so.
would be great if we could find this thu.
ken
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Post by Stevie P »

In view of the recent interest in whether or not there is or was ever a Cardinals Folly and a Pride of Peacocks, I have been putting together information from DW's novels which may assist in the search. We all vaguely remember the descriptions of these two places as described in the books but to locate this info. can be quite time consuming so I've added a few extracts from 'The Devil Rides Out' and 'Strange Conflict'
This is not a complete compilation so if anyone else spots anything I hope they will add the info to the site.

Extracts from - The Devil Rides Out

Cardinals Folly

The house was a rambling old mansion, parts of which dated back to the 13th century, and the great octagonal library being one of the oldest portions of it, was sunk low into the ground so that they had to go up half a dozen steps from its French windows on to the long terrace which ran the whole length of the southern side of the house.
Seven sides of the great library were covered ceiling high with books and the eighth was occupied by the French windows.
A grey stone balustrade patched with moss and lichens separated the terrace from the garden, and from the former two sets of steps led down to a broad velvety lawn. An ancient cedar graced the greensward towards the east end of the mansion where the kitchen quarters lay, hiding the roofs of the glass-houses and the walled garden with its espaliered peach and nectarine trees.
At the bottom of the lawn tall yew hedges shut in the outer circle of the maze, beyond which lay the rose garden and the swimming pool. To the right, just visible from the library windows, a gravel walk separated the lawn from a gently sloping bank, called the Botticelli Garden. It was so named because in spring it had all the beauty of the Italian masters paintings. Dwarf trees of apple, plum and cherry, standing no more than six feet high and separated by ten yards or more from each other, stood covered with white and pink blossom while, rising from the grass up the shelving bank, clumps of polyanthus, pheasants-eye narcissus, forget-me-nots and daffodils were planted one to the square yard.
Further down the garden there was an old sun dial beyond which lay the pond garden, modelled from that at Hampton Court, sinking in rectangular stages to a pool where, later in the year, blue lotus flowers and white water lilies floated serenly in the sunshine.

Where are you staying? At the village inn, (Pride of Peacocks) no more than a mile from here.

The inn was almost as old as the house. At one period it had been a hostelry of some importance, but the changing system of highways in the 18th century had left it denuded of the coaching traffic and doomed from then on to cater only for the modest wants of the small local population. It had been added to and altered many times; for one long period falling almost wholly into disrepair.
The inn had a comfortably furnished lounge and old oak beams.
The landlord was Jeremiah Wilkes.
A deep border of dark wallflowers sent out their heady scent at the farther end of the lawn and beyond them the garden opened onto a natural wooded glade. A small stream marked the boundary. (Five foot width). Beyond the stream was woodland.







Extracts from - Strange Conflict

The east wing of the rambling old house (Cardinals folly) was very ancient and said to have been at one time part of a great abbey, but centuries later these thick walled remains had been built onto, while in recent years the ownwers had spared neither pains nor money to make its interior both comfortable and beautiful. The heavy, oak, studded door was no sooner opened…………………………….

The cellars were centuries old having thick stone walls and heavy doors so that they differed little from actual mediaeval dungeons and quite possibly had been used for that purpose in the bad old days when the Lord abbots held temporal as well as spiritual sway over the lands adjacent to Cardinals Folly.
One of them was now used as a wine cellar and two others for lumber of various kinds but a fourth was empty.


It was the principal room in the oldest part of the house. Comfortable sofa’s and large armchairs stood about the uneven polished oak of the floor, a pair of globes occupied two angles of the book lined walls, and a great oval, mahogany writing table of Chippendale design stood before the wide French window. Owing to its sunken position the lighting of the room was dim in daylight yet its atmosphere was by no means gloomy. A log-fire upon a twelve inch pile of ashes was kept burning in the wide fireplace all through the year and at night
When the curtains were drawn. The room was lit with the soft radiance of concealed ceiling lights.
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Post by Nick »

Excellent. Funny how seeing these descriptions away from the narrative of the novels conjures up a more detailed and different picture.
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Post by Charles »

Agreed. Well done, Steve !

As well as including descriptions of the house, it may be worth including descriptions of its location.

Here are three for starters ...

Three Inquisitive People (Chapter 11)

''Um. She got the family place, Cardinal's Folly, down in Warwickshire ..."

The Devil Rides Out (Chapter 1)

" ... but as Rex accepted a long Hoto de Monterrey from the cedar cabinet which the Duke's man presented to him his thoughts were not of the Eatons, living now so happily with their little daughter Fleur in their lovely old country home near Kidderminster ..."

Strange Conflict (Chapter 4 - just before Steve's quote)

"An hour later he was with Rex, Simon and Richard in the latter's car running through the half-empty streets of bomb-torn London on the way to Worcestershire"

Typical DW - you'll note that the county changes slightly, as does the spelling of the house (with or without an apostrophe).

If Schliemann was right about Troy, why not SP about Cardinal's Folly....
Charles
Nick
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Post by Nick »

Never noticed the DW Warwick-Worcester county boundary changes. It rather messes up my Pride of Peacoks find near Kidderminster, I dont think DW could have forgotten the county of a wonderful watering hole like that. I still hold out some hope though.
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Post by Charles »

You might argue that DW was more likely to get the town right than the county.

I had to look at a map to find out where Warwickshire and Worcestershire were !


:D
Charles
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