Here are all the books that I’m aware of that deal with the subject of Follies, along with some on specialist but related subjects such as lodges, grottoes and ice houses. Note that we do not sell books, and some of these will be out of print, but most are available through online booksellers, often quite cheaply. I’ve put mini reviews with each book, but if there isn’t one, it’s because I haven’t read it.
The one essential book you must own – it orginally came out in hardback in 1986 and was later reprinted and updated with a green cover in paperback in 1990, then reprinted with a blue cover in 1999. There are only minor differences between the two paperbacks, so any one of them will do. The most comprehensive guide to follies in the UK, and a very enjoyable read, even though it is long out of date.
A book of beautiful photographs of Irish follies, with a paragraph or two explaining the history of each. The well known ones are all here, along with a couple of new ones, and some non-folly eyecatchers.
Gwyn and Wim revisit follies, but this time the emphasis is on the builders and what drove them to build. Each chapter concentrates ona particular type of folly and has a gazetteer of buildings of that type at the end of each chapter.
A young man takes a trip round England, visiting follies and making paintings of them as he goes.
Two editions of the book by Barbara Jones that cover all the follies in the UK she could find at the time. The first edition came out in 1953 and the second much larger tome in 1974. In some ways superceded by Headley and Meulenkamp’s book, this is still worth reading in its own right as it has some wonderful hand drawn illustrations and a different way of describing things, that make it a pleasure to read.
Available from Amberley Books
The latest in Jonathan’s growing series of books on West Country follies. Lots of great photos of follies you won’t know with detailed histories and descriptions.
A small introductory book featuring follies owned by the National Trust.
A complete series of ebooks, one for each county in England, with directions on how to find each one. You can buy them from Heritage eBooks directly, or from Amazon.
A very cheap, postcard sized, book with some good colour photos and brief descriptions of mostly well known follies, but also with a few rarely seen ones like the Witch House at Hestercombe. A good introduction to the subject.
From the excellent Shire series, this is an ideal introduction to the subject, and makes a cheap present for someone who may yet be unaware that they’re interested in the subject.
Follies, dovecotes and garden buildings explained in their context with a mixture of black and white photos, a colour photo section and some neat line drawings.
This can fairly be called the definitive guide to Follies in Ireland. Meticulously researched, every folly is not only photographed but presented as a small measured drawing as an elevation, and often in plan as well.
Georgian Garden Buildings – Sarah Rutherford with Jonathan Lowe 2012Despite the title, this is a book all about follies and the best possible introduction to the subject in a small book. With individual chapters on Arches, Columns, Druidiana, Rotundas and Towers, you’ll know all the key types after reading this.
Preposterous Erections – Peter Ashley 201259 Towers of various kinds, mostly follies but with a few water towers and industrial towers thrown in, this is an excellent book with high quality photos and well informed but also amusing text.
Mazes & Follies – Adrian Fisher, 2004By maze designer Adrian Fisher, this is a small, pretty picture book divided into two sections, one on Follies and the other on Mazes. All are well known and the text is fairly brief. A nice photographic introduction to either subject.
Follies and Pleasure Pavilions – George Mott and Sally Sample Aall 1989Lots of sumptuous colour photos of follies, temples and lodges, with some description as well, but essentially a book of photos.
A new edition of Jonathan’s book, available from Dovecote Press. Devoted entirely to the follies of Dorset, and as detailed as you might expect from long time FF member Jonathan Holt.
Somerset Follies – Jonathan Holt 2007 .Out of print but Jonathan may have a few copies
Lots of follies througout Somerset, described in detail with many black and white photos including historical photos of the buildings’ original condition.
Welsh Follies – Graham Watkins. 2015 also available as an e-book (Kindle 2013)The stories and histories attached to 60 follies in Wales.
Cotswold Follies and Fancies – Margaret Caine & Alan Corton ,1998Looking like one of the Curiosities books, but this one contains only follies with good detailed descriptions and black & white photos.
Ivory Towers & Dressed Stones Vol 1: Lancashire – Jim Jarratt , 1994Small in size but packed with detail, this is arranged as a series of walks with hand drawn maps taking in a folly or two on each one. The text gives a good description of the locality and difficulty of access as well as historical detail.
A companion book to the above, again full of walks with both colour and black & white photos plus a few line drawings.
Manchester Oddities – Keith Warrender 2011Despite the title, this is largely about follies, both in Manchester and within a broad radius of the city, so it includes many in Cheshire. It is well illustrated and includes several little known or very recently built follies, so is an essential read.
Fabulous Follies of Ireland – Nesta Fitzgerald and William Laffan. 2015 (Irish Georgian Society)A slim paperback book covering fifteen Irish follies each with a handdrawn picture and a page of description. The follies are generally well known, but it’s the unusual illustrations that make this book so charming – quite childlike, but with lots of detail and usually with a group of people in period dress beside the folly.
A small and ancient paperback book, but full of period charm. The pictures are all hand drawn, and either black and white or pastel coloured.
An astonishingly detailed journey along the A272 – which runs from East Sussex into Hampshire, taking in every conceivable feature of interest along the way. Lots of follies, including many you won’t have seen before, plus an unorthodox page layout and many little diversions along the way, make this a great read and puts paid to the idea that Englishmen are the greatest eccentrics. Rita and Pieter are long time FF members and from the Netherlands. This is the fourth edition which runs to 272 pages.
A whole mixture of odd structures found in the countryside, but with a good section on follies, notable for some shots of the recently built Teapot Tower at Deene Park. Also includes railway ventilation towers, triangulation markers, hillside drawings and all those other things that one sees and thinks ‘I wonder what that is?’ when out for a walk.
A campaigning book – old, but still available. It is satisfying to see that many of these threatened buildings have now been completely restored.
An early book which includes black and white photos of many well known follies – most of them here are in a ruinous state which makes it a bit gloomy. Better times for follies were still to come!
A large format book comprising largley of Ed’s pictures of long demolished or ruined country houses, portrayed in his own unique style as paper collages on blank backgrounds, giving them a rather ghostly appearance. There are few actual follies in here, but the houses, such as Fonthill Abbey, Hope End and Holdenby House will be familiar to folly lovers.
A large book divided into chapters on Allegory & Fantasy; Classicism & Grandeur; Romanticism & Innovation and Modernism & Individualism. It covers all periods, travels right across Europe, and comes up to date with several recent buildings such as Colin’s Barn and Westonbury Water Gardens. Beautifully illustrated.
Follies in America – A History of Garden and Park Arhitecture – Kerry Dean Carso 2021Tells the story of how gardens and their follies developed in America , but entirely about historic buildings -there are no contemporary follies here and all pictures are in black and white.
Bizarre Buildings – Paul Cattermole with Ian Westwell (intro by Gwyn Headley) 2007A compilation of odd looking buildings from around the world, this starts with a chapter on Follies, (all very well-known), and then continues with chapters on Residential, Commercial, Municipal and Cultural buildings. Some will excite, others will strike you as just oddly shaped modern office buildings.
A good historical intoduction with black and white pictures, followed by a longer coloured section with a good selection of buildings in many styles from the great parks of Germany and Austria.
Fantasy Worlds – Deidi von Schaewen & John Maizels 1999 and 2009This huge book covers fantasy structures in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. It concentrates on what might be called Outsider Art or Art Brut and so it travels from things that are little more than piles of junk, through to mad sculptural gardens to full blown architectural follies. All of this century, and a very inspiring book with huge, vivid, photographs. An edited, smaller version was published in 2009, which might be easier to find, but do try and get the original version if you can.
Modern follies in the Netherlands, in Dutch. I’ve never been able to find a copy.
An admirable attempt at cataloguing all the follies across America – an excellent series of photographs and descriptions of buildings which vary from stone towers throught giant animals, to houses made from bottles.
Architectural Follies in America – Clay Lancaster 1960Long out of print, but worth looking for, is this book of Follies, which in this case means mostly big odd houses in unusual styles such as oriental, but with a smattering of really odd edifices such as the Elephant Hotel and the Leaning Tower of Niles – lots of pictures, but all either line drawings or coloured paintings.
Downton Gorge: the matchless valley – Tom & Gisele Wall (editors) Self-published 2022An excellent study of Downton Castle and its surrounding gorge. At 504 pages this is very detailed, so although it includes details of the bath house and tunnel , it is not entirely about achitecture -there are a lot of pages about lichen, fungi, geology and local history as well.
Available for £24 including postage, from Tom Wall at 18 Kempton, Lydbury North, Shropshire, SY7 0JG or contact
wa*****@ho*****.uk
to pay by transfer.
Ok, I admit this one is a self published book with a personal connection. Claire has written a book detailing all the things I’ve made over a 50 year period, from doll’s houses and lorries to tortoise houses and follies (with plenty of photos). The cover depicts our garden. Available from Amazon.
FF member Simon used to live within sight of the remarkable folly on the cover of this book and has researched the surrounding estate extensively. This is a new, updated version of his original book and can be bought from him here: http://www.simonscott.org.uk/boughtonpark
English Garden Eccentrics – Todd Longstaff-Gowan – 2022A thick book giving the stories of a variety of English gardens containing grottoes, menageries, tunnels, mountain ranges and towers. It also tells the stories of the eccentric owners and why and how they built these gardens, some of which survive and others which are long gone.
Gwrych Castle – An Official guide – Mark Baker 2018A history of the castle and its decline into ruin, but with a happey ending that it is now being restored under the steady ahdn of Mark and his team. Available from the Gwrych Castle webshop
A sizeable book with many colour photos detailing the many and varied gardens that the Bannermans have worked on, adding their unique take on modern follies to each.
A book which looks at different ypes of obsessive gardening, with chapters on topiary, self taught gardeners, sculpture, surrealism and of course follies. Of these, you will find Horton Menagerie, and Worlitz but also little known gems like the Stanley Norbury Garden at Weyhill.
Contemporary gardens from all over the world are featured, and these include folly buildings, strange figures and creatures made from trees or turf, mazes, waterfeatures etc, but the unifying themes are of odd, surrealist, features.
Three nearby and inter-related gardens described in great historic detail.
Published by the National Trust at the launch of its appeal to restore the gardens of Stowe, this book describes the evolution of the garden and the aims of its various owners, along with lots of pictures of the numerous temples.
A book of large colour photos of this amazing garden which is arising from the remains of an older garden ravaged by opencast mining.
A large format book detailing Jencks’s amazing garden, started in 1995 and still being added to. It’s themes are in modern scientific theories and these are detailed here along with lots of pictures of a range of amazing garden features , most of which have no direct comparison in any other garden. It could be called a folly garden, but not as we know it!
This section contains books on specific building types such as lodges, ice-house and obelisks.
A really good guide to the many beautiful lodges of Wiltshire with 306 lodges listed with map references and descriptions.
A unique catalogue of British and Irish shell artists and their designs in grottoes, shell houses, pavilions and garden landscapes from the 18th century to the present day.
Available for £15 + £2.00 P&P from the writers: 12 Bathwick Street, Bath, BA2 6NY.
The Grotto work of Joseph Lane (1717-1784) and his son Josiah (1753-1833) of Tisbury, Wiltshire.
A Re-Appraisal. Privately available for £10 + £2.00 P&P from the writers at: 12 Bathwick Street, Bath, BA2 6NY.
The Trumpet at a Distant Gate – Tim Mowl & Brian Earnshaw 1985An overview of park gate lodges in the UK, going into some detail on the architectural forms and fashions of the different periods as well as the social backgounds of the people who built them and lived in them. Lots of good pictures as well, but this is a well written history, not just a picture book.
Comings and Goings – Gatehouses and Lodges – Peter Ashley 2002This one is the reverse of the Trumpet at a Distant Gate book – lots of beautiful colour pictures of lodges and not a lot of text, in a small pocket size book ideal for Christmas stockings.
A very comprehensive guide to the pyramids of Britain and Ireland with plenty of historical detail on each one. Unusually it includes modern sculptures and pyramid shaped offices and libraries.
Houses of all sizes and ages, but all indeed curious – from the Rushton Triangular lodge to Charles Jencks’s London home , all are beautifully photographed and described in that rich language for which she is known.
Classical stables, Castellated dog kennels, Chinese fishing pavilions – all manner of animal related buildings are described and photographed in this beautiful book.
This covers 18 castles either built or substantially modernised in the 20th century. Includes Castell Gyrn, Braylsham Castle and Castle Drogo.
The story of the Headington Shark told by its designer. A great read -not so much about building as about the reactions of neighbours and council departments and the politics of protest and art.
The story of a remarkable house, carved from solid sandstone to which long tunnels and carved figures were attached. Most of it still exists, buried beneath a block of flats in Doncaster. Well researched and illustrated.
Follies and curious buildings in the London area, photographed by Lord Snowdon and described by Gwyn Headley
The Temples of Malplaquet – Andrew Dalton 2005A story set in the grounds of Stowe school. All the temples are featured and go by their real names, but the race of small people who inhabit them may be fictitious.
This describes how an Italian immigrant built the towers in a violent area of Los Angeles and how it helped build a pride in that community.
The MacFizzet family visit the grounds of Hickyacket Hall, and they then pass through topiary avenues, prospect towers and grottoes, and one by one, members of the family are carried off by monsters who lurk within. Each page pops up with a 3D model of a greek temple, a gazebo, a grotto etc and levers activate the various monsters. Great fun.
