The grandest pigsty in the world (probably)
Near the seaside village of Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire sits a Victorian folly in the style of an Ancient Greek temple. Amazingly, this was designed and used as a pigsty.
Remarkable British follies
Our wealthiest men and women seem also to have been the world's most eccentric. Take a look at some of the stories about their mad but marvellous buildings.
Whitaker Wright's underwater ballroom in Godalming, Surrey
Near Godalming, Surrey, lies a romantic hidden "ballroom" under a mansion lake. It was built by the famous swindler James Whitaker Wright with his ill-gotten gains, as a statement of his status in Victorian society. Whitaker Wright committed suicide with a cyanide pill at London's Royal Courts of Justice when he was subsequently convicted of fraud.
The Wainhouse Tower - designed to annoy the neighbours
The Wainhouse Tower in Halifax is the tallest folly in the world, but was originally designed as a factory chimney. However, its secondary function was to annoy the owner's nextdoor neighbour ...
Margate's mysterious Shell Grotto
Under a hill in Margate, Kent is a strange folly - an ornate 70-foot long subterranean passageway and large altar room covered head-to-toe in seashell mosaic. And nobody is sure how old it is or has any idea of its original purpose.
Portmeirion - a Mediterranean fantasy in Wales
On the coast of North Wales, a bizarre Mediterranean concoction can be found - a tiny village of pastel coloured Italianate houses and sub-tropical gardens beside a river estuary. This is Portmeirion, the creation of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who purchased the estate in 1925 as a “neglected wilderness” and then spent most of his life designing and building this fantasy world.
Scott's Grotto in Ware
The pleasant Hertfordshire town of Ware, just north of London along the river Lee, has a surprising secret. In an unassuming residential part of town nestles what is thought to be the largest grotto in England.