The Prince's 'Boy Wonder' Who Could Leave English Heritage in Ruins ; a Leading Tv Producer Reveals How the 'Revolution'in the Care of Our Old Buildings has Led to Chaos - and a Huge Bill for the Taxpayer

Summary

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Mid-afternoon on an ordinary day, in a sculptor's yard in the South of England, something surreal was happening. A group of historians had gathered to reach a decision. They would be helped not by reference books or a learned conference, but a pair of almost naked male models.

But the debate did not concern the male physique. It concerned a marble fountain at the centre of a lost Elizabethan garden.

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Extract

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The Prince's 'Boy Wonder' Who Could Leave English Heritage in Ruins ; a Leading Tv Producer Reveals How the 'Revolution'in the Care of Our Old Buildings has Led to Chaos - and a Huge Bill for the Taxpayer

The garden, at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, was laid out in 1575 in time for a visit by Elizabeth I. Robert Dudley, the castle's owner, was rumoured to be the Queen's lover, but whatever the truth of their relationship, the garden has since disappeared.

Only one contemporary account survives and it is vague about the appearance of the fountain. Was there a marble ball or a shallow bowl on top? Nobody knows.

Kenilworth Castle is one of 400 castles and ruins currently in the care of English Heritage, the Government's adviser on the historic environment. It was English Heritage that decided to recre...

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