The Follies of the Rich

One of the great things about the rich is that they can be as eccentric as they like, because they have the cash, and status, to  indulge their wildest fantasies and fancies. Traditionally, the rich have always been great creators of Follies - the word Folly here being used in the sense of light-heartedness, not in the sense of something ill-advised.  Indeed, the UK is said to have more architectural follies than anywhere else in the world.

Classically, Follies are buildings that have no practical purpose and are there purely for ornamentation. Follies began as decorative additions on the great estates of the late 16th and early 17th centuries and became hugely  popular in the couple of centuries which followed.  Some great estates already had picturesque ruins of monastic houses, for instance, but others lacked any such genuine and atmospheric buildings. So, the fake romantic and theatrical eye catchers begun to appear in the grounds of the big houses.

Below are a couple of examples of traditional follies - both from the grounds of Stowe in Buckinghamshire, courtesy the National Trust. On the left is the Temple of Venus and on the right the deliciously quirky triangular Gothic Temple - both serving no purpose except to please and amuse.

However, some Follies did have a practical use, as in the hunting tower at Chatsworth, shown below.

In the modern world, I guess we could say that Roman Abramovich's Eclipse - the biggest yacht in the world, as we all know - is an example of the Folly of a rich man. It is a magnificent feat of design and construction.  But it's not a Folly I would have fancied. (see my earlier post about hubris).

I'm going to talk about another Folly, created by a couple of rich men, which is much more to my personal taste - but not until tomorrow,  as the witching hour has long since come and gone.

So, tomorrow, let's have a look at the fairy tale residence of the Brothers Grimm - the wild and romantic Fort Brecqhou.

(for anyone interested in modern follies, see The Folly Fancier on my blog list, it's a great blog).