That’s because if you came here at the beginning of the 1800's, it wouldn't be there at all.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8tCwbWsAAIPXi.jpg)
The story of how they ended up in Windsor takes us back to the heyday of the British Empire & to the ancient world of Roman Libya. It shows how the imperial mind imagined ruins of the past & plundered its dominions.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8tHyyXkAADi2z.jpg)
The sight struck them both. Earle even painted this watercolour, showing the sand dunes rolling over the stones.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8tSJfXUAAhyWa.jpg)
Emperor Septimius Severus was born there, & lavished it with wealth. He turned it into the 3rd-most important city in Africa, to rival Carthage & Alexandria.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8t1_EXUAAsC6h.jpg)
A great tsunami in 365 devastated it, then the invasion of the Vandals in the 5th century & Muslim armies in the 7th finally left the city in ruins.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8t7YcW0AMgftw.jpg)
In the C17th, 600 columns from Leptis were taken by Louis XIV for use in his palaces at Versailles & Paris. Its columns can also be found in Rouen Cathedral.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8uEEUXcAEewiC.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8uFnNWkAEjh09.jpg)
Captivated by the columns of Leptis, Warrington persuaded the local Governor that, on behalf of the British crown, he should be able to “help himself” to the ruins.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8uLZjXcAA9bIW.jpg)
However, he became convinced that his gifts would be received gladly, & arranged for them to be transported on his ship, The Weymouth.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8uSV9XUAE1K_x.jpg)
The idea of foreigners taking these stones for themselves caused a great uproar.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8udQxW4AY7W1W.jpg)
As a consequence, Warrington collected fewer than planned. Today, 3 large columns he abandoned still lie on the beach.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8uiMDXcAAXSfR.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8upJaX0AEOXQg.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8utKaW4AELytX.jpg)
Experts in the British Museum, he recounted, were not “at all impressed or convinced of the value, either aesthetic or intrinsic, of the cargo.”
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8uyngWAAEiNaH.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8u1y5WsAUwZPd.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8u5aPXkAE6hD6.jpg)
For instance, these ruins at Hagley Castle, Wimpole’s Folly & Schönbrunn, Austria were all built in their current state.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8ww_3X0AASDES.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8wyeQWsAETFFd.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8wzuAXUAIfAbc.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8w4vrXUAAkiRo.jpg)
No designs or sketches have survived of how Wyatville wanted the ruins to look, & it seems he relied quite heavily on improvisation.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8xL6QX4AAZkTZ.jpg)
He added a chipped cornice to a nearby road bridge so it looked like an arch in a city wall.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8xQprW0AAVkZ8.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8xqBjW4AAa27R.jpg)
One architect commented on the difficulty of creating authenticity: “if the mosses and lychens grow unkindly on your walls…if the ivy refuses to mantle over your buttress…you may as well write over the gate, Built in the year 1772.”
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8xzDuW0AE_DGH.jpg)
His creation, named fancifully “The Temple of Augustus”, was designed to evoke “ruin-ness”, but it was an illusion.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8x6YoWAAICRss.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8x-nPW4AEWR0X.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8yCdyW0AAKng7.jpg)
During the 19th century, the “Imperial century”, Britain added around 400 million people & 10 million square miles to its control.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8yIWDWAAA83Av.jpg)
“As the Romans purportedly settled and civilized Britannia, so Britain hoped to do for their own empire.” (Kacie M. Alaga)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8ysAqWsAEa-8S.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8y_GdWsAAVy5b.jpg)
In George IV’s official 1821 coronation portrait, you can even see classical columns in the background, marking him as the inheritor of an ancient right.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8zDp1XUAAbS_5.jpg)
They mostly focused on the picturesque arrangement of the ruins.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8zVshW4AA9ipO.jpg)
In these paintings, the Virginia Water Ruins become a site of unsettlement & unease.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8zZWlX4AETdax.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8zczEXUAA8nqZ.jpg)
For Victorian architects, it seemed the next logical step was to build the imaginary ruins themselves.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8zhWTWAAcm9dV.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8zik_X4AAMj0a.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8zj_kXUAAScnu.jpg)
Were the viewers of the false ruin supposed to wonder, as Gustave Doré did in 1872, whether London too might one day lie in ruins?
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8zqnMX4AUTe42.jpg)
Virginia Water raises the spectre of the ruin being used to create a false reality, a false past.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8z2ocWkAI26Ja.jpg)
What makes a ruin “real”?
Who owns a ruin?
Can a ruin be ruined?
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS8z72NW4AA32hT.jpg)
ecollections.scad.edu/iii/cpro/app?i…
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS80I9LXkAAGAs1.jpg)