Hello, we wanted to let you know that this year’s theme of architecture is ideally suited to our unique Goathurst Village Heritage Trail which began in the 2019 festival and has since grown. The trail features Halswell House and Park together with its 18th Century follies, The Temple of Pan and St Edward’s church. As you explore the trail you cannot fail to notice the links between them.

The trail has evolved to encompass Halswell House and Park which includes its collection of 18th century follies: the Rotunda and Temple of Harmony, together with the Bathstone Bridge and cascade of lakes situated in Mill Wood, and The Temple of Pan, which is now privately owned but was originally part of the Halswell estate.

The Bath Stone Bridge in Mill Wood is a very good example of C18th ‘Folly’ architecture. A dam made to be highly decorative and deceptively look like a bridge. Probably made to the designs of Thomas Wright of Durham. 

The Rotunda, or ‘Mrs Busby’s Temple’ of 1755 and the Temple of Pan 1751 are also notable examples.

The Temple of Harmony, designed by Thomas Prowse MP, completed in 1767, is a scaled down version of the Temple of Portunus in Rome, with an interior designed by Robert Adam.  

St Edward’s church boasts a ‘collection of high-quality funerary tombs and monuments’ dating from the 16th century, hatchments and other notable items inextricably linked to the Halswell-Kemeys-Tynte families who lived at Halswell House. 

At the church you can also see the recently restored Grade II* listed 18th century monument to the Willis family with its ten-foot high, Corinthian column. Its design is considered of architectural significance within a national context and it has been described as ‘one of the grandest chest tombs ever seen’.

The church and Halswell House and Park will be open from 12 noon – 5pm, whilst the Temple of Pan can be visited from 2-5pm. Sandwich lunches, teas and cakes available at the church with teas and cakes also on offer at the Temple of Pan.