Mad Jack Fuller's Pyramid
This is a piece of design that I encountered over the holidays that I love. It is one of Fuller's follies* in Brightling, East Sussex. This 23 ft pyramid tomb was built in 1811, twenty three years before his death standing at 7.6m tall. Local legend had it that Fuller was entombed in the pyramid in full dress and top hat, seated at a table with a roast chicken and a bottle of wine.
I like this design because it is just so ridiculous and extravagant. Absolutely frivolous! Fitting totally out of place in the village and around the other (more modest) graves. It reminded me of inequality so much when I was looking at it. To me it says that if you are bossy enough and have enough money you can do whatever you want. And I guess people still do that today but not necessarily with giant monumental pyramids but through trade exploitation and mal treatment of others.
It also reminds me of a film I watched at Pitt Rivers Museum in August, about coffins (read about it here). Sorry, this is the most I have ever written about graves/coffins/tombs ever.
* a folly is a "foolish and useless but expensive undertaking"
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