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Folly tower

The SPAB scholars, together with Andrew Townsend Architects, carried out a condition survey of the Grade II listed Folly Tower in Faringdon on behalf of the Faringdon Folly Tower Trust. ATA have since been appointed by the Trust to develop proposals for the repairs.

Folly Tower was built in 1935 by Lord Berners, then the owner of Faringdon House, to the design of the architect, Lord Gerald Wellsley. The form of the building follows the precedent of an Italian campanile and the detailing is a quirky combination of spare classical and gothic. The building was closed and neglected for many years before being repaired and brought back into use in the late 1980s by the owner at the time, Robert Heber-Percy, who inherited the Faringdon House estate from Lord Berners on the death of the latter. The 20^th century history of Faringdon House and the estate (including construction of the Folly Tower) is documented in The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me by Soffka Zinovieff, published in 2014.

Close up of the tower

The tower is constructed in English bond brickwork to a height of about thirty metres and is austerely plain in style, apart from the top section where the tower changes in plan from square to octagonal with sloping stone broaches at the four corners where the change occurs. The outer dimension of the main, square section of the building is about 5.25m. Internally, the tower is open below the main upper (Belvedere) room with a timber staircase rising in straight flights against each wall and a small number of narrow timber round-arched windows lighting the stair.   

The top part of the square section of the building is enclosed with a timber floor to form the Belvedere room which has plastered wall/ceiling finishes and three large arch-headed timber windows in each elevation. Above this level, the Lantern Room has a low ceiling, concrete floor and exposed brick walls, the connection between the Belvedere and Lantern being by means of a narrow timber stair built against the south wall. From the Lantern Room, a steep timber stair gives access to a flat roof and viewing area with crenelated limestone/ brick parapet and, rising from the parapet, eight limestone finials in obelisk form.    

Inside the main belvedere room

The name of the hill pre-dates the construction of the tower and is probably a reference to a leafy place (Fr feuille = leaf). The tower is still surrounded by mature beech trees and  mature/juvenile Scots Pines; the trees and tower forming an impressive landmark on Folly Hill, rising out of the flat Vale of the White Horse to the south and the flood plain of the stripling Thames to the north.    

The Folly tower is understood to have been built by Lord Berners as a birthday present for his partner, Robert Heber-Percy, although Berners, a composer of some repute, also arranged during construction of the tower to have a grand piano installed in the Belvedere room, thus allowing him to play among the tree tops