Folly

Encyclopedia : F : FO : FOL : Folly

Folly is also a synonym for foolishness; see stupidity. A folly is a silly error. For the hardcore band, see Folly (band)

Broadway Tower, England

The folly at Wimpole Hall, England, built in the 1700s to resemble Gothic-era ruins

Swallow's Nest near Yalta, Crimea (1912).

In architecture, a folly is an extravagant, useless, or fanciful building, or a building that appears to be something other than what it is.

The term comes from the fact that such structures have often been dubbed "[name of architect or builder]'s Folly", in the sense of foolishness or madness.

Follies are usually found in parks or large grounds of houses and stately homes; they may sometimes have been deliberately built to look partially in ruins. They were especially popular from the end of the 16th century to the 18th century.

The Parc de la Villette in Paris has a number of modern follies by different architects.

Contents

0.1 Famine Follies

1 Examples

1.1 Britain
1.2 France
1.3 Italy
1.4 Russia
1.5 United States
1.6 Unclassified

2 See also
3 External links

Famine Follies

The Irish Potato Famine of 1845-49 led to the building of innumerable follies. Britain's prevalent political tone of the day held that laissez faire, not a welfare state was the appropriate form of civil management. As such, distribution of aid to those in need was seen as wrong. However, to hire the needy for work on useful projects would deprive existing workers of their jobs. Thus, "famine follies" came to be built extensively. These include: roads in the middle of nowhere, between two seemingly random points; Piers in the middle of bogs; etc.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Examples

Britain

Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, England
The Folly Tower at Pontypool, Wales
Freston Tower, near Ipswich, Suffolk
Severndroog Castle, Shooter's Hill, south-east London
Rushton Triangular Lodge, Northamptonshire (16th century)
Stowe School, several follies in the grounds
The Ashton Memorial, Lancaster, England
Broadway Tower, The Cotswolds, England
Hawkstone Park, follies and gardens in Shropshire, England
King Alfred's Tower, Stourhead, Wiltshire, England
Williamson's tunnels, probably the largest underground folly in the world, Liverpool, England
Flounder's Folly, Shropshire, England
Beckford's Tower, Somerset, England
The Dunmore Pineapple, Falkirk, Scotland
McCaig's Tower, Oban, Scotland
Portmeirion, Wales
Watkins' Tower, London
Bettisons Folly, Hornsea, England
Sway Tower, New Forest
Old John, Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, England
Faringdon Folly, Faringdon, Oxfordshire
Wentworth Follies, Wentworth, South Yorkshire

France

Désert de Retz, folly garden in Chambourcy near Paris, France (18th century)

Italy

The Bomarzo Gardens

Russia

Ruined towers in Peterhof, Tsarskoe Selo, Gatchina, and Tsaritsino
La Chapelle, Peterhof
Creaking Pagoda and Chinese Village in Tsarskoe Selo
Dutch Admiralty in Tsarskoe Selo

United States

Belvedere Castle, Central Park, New York
Big Duck, Flanders, New York
Lucy the Elephant, Margate City, New Jersey
Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California
Ypsilanti, Michigan water tower
[Kasimira’s Castle], Wichita, Kansas [(Photo of "Lady Kasimira", with her castle)]
*This should not be confused with [The Castle Inn Riverside], a.k.a., Crumm Castle, a.k.a. Campbell Castle, also located in Wichita.

Unclassified

"The Cage" at Lyme Park
Peckforton Castle
Wentworth Woodhouse, several follies in the grounds

External links

[Follies in the English Landscape]
[Follies and Monuments] - A comprehensive catalogue of Follies within the UK
[Images of follies on Odd-stuff!]
[European Follies] - Book to be published 2007

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.