The Sham Castle was built on Bathampton Down to the east of Bath city centre by Richard James (or possibly Jones) for Ralph Allen in 1762. It is a Gothick folly and is only the façade of a castle - the back of the castle is flat.
Ralph Allen (1693-1764) was an entrepreneur and philanthropist, who reformed the British postal delivery service. He was born in St Columb Major in Cornwall but moved to Bath in 1710 to work for the Post Office. He used the money he made from his postal reforms to buy the Bath stone quarries/mines at Combe Down and Bathampton Down. He made a fortune from his Bath stone quarries and in the mid 1730s work started on the Palladian mansion Prior Park, which was built for him on a hill overlooking the city. The mansion was completed in 1741.
Ralph Allen probably had the Sham Castle built to show off the qualities of Bath stone as a building material and/or to improve the view from his house in the centre of Bath.
The Sham Castle was restored and presented to the City of Bath by Richard Osden Ottley and Arthur Edward Withey in 1921.
The front of Sham Castle
The central arch of Sham Castle
Sham Castle
Plaque above the central arch
The back of Sham Castle
The view from Sham Castle
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