The Building of Fonthill Abbey
After hiding from public disgrace on the continent for 15 years, in 1796 Beckford began to prepare Fonthill for his 1799 arrival. As well as being distant from the fashionable society of London, Beckford’s desire for seclusion is evident in his plans for what would become Fonthill Abbey. His first act upon returning was to surround the estate with a 7-mile long, 4-metre high wall crowned with vicious spikes. Turning his attention to the aesthetics of the estate, Beckford also ordered ‘a convent, partly in ruins, and partly perfect’ and a folly to be built next to the existing mansion.
With a huge art collection and the newly-acquired library of Edward Gibbon (author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire), Beckford realised that he needed somewhere suitable to house them. Thus he hired James Wyatt, the leading architect of his age, to build a gothic mansion resembling a medieval abbey to rival the great spire of Salisbury Cathedral, which lay around 20 miles distant. Beckford demanded that Fonthill’s octagonal tower, in which he intended principally to live, be 91.4 metres high. Cunningly, he insisted that this first be built in wood to check that it was sufficiently impressive.
Despite delegating the work to the far better-qualified Wyatt, Beckford still insisted on being directly involved in the project. As you might expect, it suffered as a result. Wyatt was frequently absent, allegedly womanising and drinking heavily, and this provided Beckford with the opportunity to meddle uninterrupted. The first tower was constructed on the foundations of a summer house with shoddy materials, due to Beckford’s insistence that he eat Christmas Dinner there in 1800, which he did with the mortar still wet and structural beams barely in place. The kitchens collapsed as dinner was brought to the seated Beckford.
Rebuilding began immediately, but Beckford had not learned from his mistakes. The design itself was structurally unsound, but he would only accept a slight reduction in height, and continued to harangue his architect and workers to rush the job. He bribed the workers to work seven days a week with vast quantities of beer and food, meaning that construction of the poorly-designed tower was carried out by intoxicated men. This made him hugely popular with workmen, to the point that on one occasion 500 people working at Windsor Castle for King George III downed tools and came to Fonthill Abbey.
The tower was finally completed in 1813, at an estimated cost of between £273, 000 (Beckford) and £1 million (The Times). Beckford, true to form, had already lived there since 1807. Unfortunately, even his great wealth could not keep up with the cost of building and maintaining the Abbey, and when he lost two sugar plantations in the early 1820s he was forced to sell. It was purchased by John Farquhar, an arms dealer, in 1822, at a cost of £330, 000 (£27.6 million or $38.8 million today). The tower again fell down in 1825, and was never rebuilt.