Geoffrey Grigson in A Gazetteer To Wessex, in the book About Britain No.2, Wessex, A New Guide Book With A Portrait By Geoffrey Grigson, published by Collins in 1951, noted:
Fonthill Bishop, Wiltshire. Celebrated as the place where the millionaire William Beckford built his neo-Gothic abbey, the tower of which crashed. Little of the abbey remains. The road, however, from Fonthill Gifford runs under a great arch along the lake made by Beckford’s father. Woods and lakes are exquisite. Careful search (enquire locally) will discover the Hermitage and Hermit’s Cave made by Beckford on one side of the lake, and his grotto and the caves of the Alpine Garden on the east side. 15 miles west of Salisbury.