Blenheim Palace

The Roofs

The roofs of Blenheim are like a small town on another planet. The records show that the choosing of the ornaments, to please both Duchess and architect, was a most l aborious business in which countless models were hoisted. Some are glorified chimneys - unromantic essentials which Vanbrugh, unlike some of his successors, knew how to school into an eloquent skyline. Most striking of all perhaps are the 30-foot (9-metre ) finials rising from the square towers. For these too Grinling Gibbons contracted: "the Scrolls a flower De Luce (fleur-de-lys) revers'd and Corronett upon the Same."