One way to spot an 18th century landscape is by the presence of a folly: an extravagant, expensive, and purposeless structure.
Follies are like a set piece, but with more staying power. Many were born out of the humour and goodwill of the financier. They include fashionable faux castles, gothic ruins, and Roman temples, all representing a sense of fun in a predominantly practical, built environment.
Here are 8 of our favourite follies in England.
The Druids Temple, Ilton, North Yorkshire, Grade II
In a quiet clearing surrounded by the serene Yorkshire countryside, you wouldn’t expect to see what looks like the crumbling remains of a prehistoric monument.
The structure was commissioned in 1820 by then-sheriff of Yorkshire, William Danby, in an attempt to alleviate local unemployment. Workers were paid a shilling a day for their labour, and Danby offered a regular salary to a person who would live at the temple for seven years. It is suggested that the longest anyone last was 5.
Rumours of devil worship and spiritual practices on the site have regularly sprung up, but are likely myths adding to the mystery.
Lord Berners’ Faringdon Folly, Oxfordshire, Grade II
When asked to explain the point of the tower to the local planning subcommittee, Lord Berners remarked: ‘The great point of the Tower is that it will be entirely useless.’
Lord Berners (1884 to 1950) inherited his title, land and property of Faringdon House from an uncle in 1918. As well as being a talented artist and composer, Berners was a well-known eccentric known for being part of a glittering 1920s social circle. Visitors to Faringdon House included Salvador Dali and Aldous Huxley.
In 1935, Berners had the 100-foot Faringdon tower constructed as a birthday present for his lover Robert Heber-Percy. 6 counties can be seen from the top of what is thought to be the last folly built in England.
Clayton Tunnel, West Sussex, Grade II
Carved into the side of the South Down hills in 1841, this gothic castle folly was built as part of the railway connecting Brighton to London, but no one knows precisely why.
One theory is that the castle was built to reassure nervous Victorian passengers that the mouth of the tunnel was not a portal into the depths of hell.
Another theory is that the folly stands as a monument to the 6,000 men who dug for three years through 1.25 miles of chalk.
The portal was the inspiration for Charles Dickens’ classic ghost story, ‘The Signal-Man’, in which an apparition predicts 3 consecutive tragic events on the railway. Perhaps for this reason, the little cottage above the folly is reputed to be haunted.
Brookmans Arch, on Gobians Estate, Hertfordshire, Grade II
The folly arch at Brookmans Park was once a grand entrance to the Gobions estate, a pleasure ground laid out in the 1730s. The arch was apparently constructed to commemorate a connection with Queen Elizabeth I, who held the estate between 1550 and 1553.
Local legend has it that during construction, as a show of extravagance, a farthing was placed under each brick. That claim has been tested by generations of local children, leading to severe damage to the arch, which has been protected by a fence since the 1980s.
The Old Bear Pit, Cardigan Road, Leeds, Grade II
The Old Bear Pit is almost all that remains of the former Leeds Zoological and Botanic Gardens on Cardigan Road.
The venture opened in 1840 and closed just 8 years later in 1848, as it wasn’t open on Sundays (most people’s day off) and suffered financially as a result.
Display of exotic animals, plants and curiosities were all the rage in the Victorian era as people became more interested in leisure pursuits.
The Old Bear Pit was designed so that the bears could be viewed from the top of the turrets. In 1966, it was purchased for £128 by the Leeds Civic Trust and restored at a cost of £1,000.
Jack the Treacle Eater (Grade II) and The Rose Tower (Grade II), Barwick Park, Somerset
The boundary points of the Barwick Estate are marked by 4 very different and unusual follies.
It is suspected that the follies, constructed between the late 18th and early 19th centuries, were built to provide work to local people during a time of depression.
Jack the Treacle Eater marks the east boundary, named for a messenger boy named Jack who trained by eating treacle. The Rose Tower stands 75 feet high at the west boundary, with 3 arched doorways from which the landscape can be viewed.
Sugar Loaf, Dallington, East Sussex, Grade II*
This 35-foot-tall folly in a meadow in East Sussex is thought to have been built in the early 1820s. Sugar was sold in conical loaf form at the time, hence the name ‘Sugarloaf’.
Local philanthropist and MP, John Fuller, commissioned this and a number of other follies across Sussex, earning him a reputation for eccentricity. Fuller was also a patron of the Royal Institution, funding professorships in science, and bought Bodiam Castle in 1829 to save it from demolition.
The Sugarloaf is thought to have been built in order for Fuller to win a bet that he could see the spire of St Giles Church in Dallington from his house. It was inhabited up until the 1930s.
Further reading
- A Brief Introduction to Garden and Park Structures
- Not Just Green Spaces: 5 Buildings Designed by Capability Brown
- Tall Tales from 7 Unusual Monastic Sites
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
Brilliant post- right up my street. I have never seen any of these before and thought the brief description of each monument was exactly right… my imagination is buzzing and now I’m desperate to learn more! Thanks so much
Thank you for your comment, we’re so glad you enjoyed the blog 🙂
Reblogged this on texthistory.
Great stuff and a peak into those times!
Very interesting, there is something endearing about people building pointless structures, especially when the point of many of them seemed to be to provide work for the unemployed
Interesting post. I’ve heard the word follies but never totally understood what they were. 🙂 — Suzanne
Sometimes the most “useless” buildings are the ones chock-full of history and culture – that’s why we work so hard to preserve heritage monuments, not for their use but for their significance in history!
These are all fantastical. The works made an impact on every person, it serves as a legacy, and these top landscaping companies in Kent are in the pursuit of making things elegant and purposeful.