Flounders' Folly - Shropshire, UK
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N 52° 27.638 W 002° 47.714
30U E 513912 N 5812292
Flounders' Folly is a tower, built in 1838, on Callow Hill, between Craven Arms and Ludlow, Shropshire, England. The tower is approximately 80 feet (24 m) tall and 16 feet (4.9 m) square.
Waymark Code: WM83MC
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/21/2010
Views: 7
It dates from 1838, when it was erected by Benjamin Flounders (1768—1846) to mark the boundaries between four large estates and maybe to celebrate his attaining his 70th year, his 'threescore years and ten'.
Over the years following Flounders' death the tower slowly fell into disrepair [1] on its exposed hilltop (it stands on Callow Hill, which is part of the same system as Wenlock Edge). Already in need of restoration in the 1920s, by the 1980s it was in a dangerous and unstable condition; the castellated top of the tower collapsed in 1987. It had changed hands several times and was owned for a time at least by the actress Julie Christie who had a house nearby for a few years.
In 2001 it was bought by what became The Flounders Folly Trust. With public interest awakened and funding from public and other sources such as The Heritage Lottery Fund forthcoming, a very professional restoration programme was commenced in 2001 and completed by 2005. At its re-opening HRH Princess Anne, The Princess Royal, flew in by a helicopter of the Royal Flight to declare the folly restoration complete, and the tower is now open to the public at least once a month. The views from the top encompass the Shropshire Hills AONB, Wenlock Edge, the Long Mynd, both Clee Hills, the Radnorshire / Welsh hills; views south reach as far as Mortimer Forest, the Brecon Beacons, Black Mountains and Malvern Hills.
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Benjamin Flounders was born on 17 June 1768 to a Quaker family from Yarm in Yorkshire . His father had extensive bleach fields at Crathorne and shops in Darlington . His mother was a Bickerdike of Leyburn and for some reason that has not yet been discovered, he was adopted by two Bickerdike uncles, both Glasgow merchants. In 1800, aged 32, he married Mary, the daughter of John Walker of North Shields, a ship owner and the proprietor of Wallsend Colliery. She was also a Quaker and the marriage took place at the Quaker Meeting House in north Shields. They had a daughter, Mary, born the following year. His first wife died and Benjamin was married again, to Hannah Chapman of Whitby , but she also died in 1814 after giving birth to a child who did not survive.
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