Brown'S Folly

Brown's Folly is a folly built in 1848 by Mr. Wade Brown, located on Bathford Hill in Monkton Farleigh. The structure is made of coursed rubble stone and features a shallow hipped Welsh slate roof. It has a tapered square tower with an offset top stage. On the south side, there is a square-headed doorway with a 20th-century steel door. The datestone is inscribed with "W 1848 B/ C 1903 H." Below the top stage, there are oculus windows on the north, east, and south sides. The top stage includes round-arched openings with keystones and balustraded handrails, although the balustrading is missing on the north and west sides. The roof has deep bracketed eaves and a chamfered stone cornice below. This structure was built as an eyecatcher, reportedly to provide work for agricultural laborers during a slow period, and it offers fine views over Bath and the Avon valley. Wade Brown lived at Monkton Farleigh Manor House in the 1840s.