Category
Follies
Built-for-the-view garden architecture: towers, ruins, grottoes, eye-catchers — eccentric and intentional.
767 places in this category.
Follies by region
Highlights
★ Iconic📷 5Follies · Scottish Highlands
McCaig's Tower
Oban's Colosseum-inspired granite folly (1897), never quite finished.
★ Iconic📷 5Follies · Central Scotland
The Dunmore Pineapple
An 18th-century garden folly topped with a giant stone pineapple — Scotland's strangest building.
All follies
📷 5Follies · London
Arrows and Obelisk
Arrows and Obelisk — Public artwork (sculpture) by Peter Logan.
📷 5Follies · London
Audley End Lion Gate
Audley End Lion Gate — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Audley End Ring Hill Temple
Audley End Ring Hill Temple — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Barrington-White mausoleum
Barrington-White mausoleum is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Beryl Bainbridge
Beryl Bainbridge is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Brent river Weir Folly
Brent river Weir Folly — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Bridge End Garden Summerhouse
Bridge End Garden Summerhouse — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Broadwoods Folly
Broadwoods Folly — Folly or eyecatcher, 1820.
📷 5Follies · London
Brodie McGhie Willcox
Brodie McGhie Willcox is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Burghley Banqueting House
Burghley Banqueting House — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Burghley Boat House
Burghley Boat House — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Burghley Darm Moss Folly
Burghley Darm Moss Folly — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Burton Mausoleum
Burton Mausoleum is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Bushy Hill Temple
Bushy Hill Temple — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Charles Cruft
Charles Cruft is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Chinthurst Hill Tower
Chinthurst Hill Tower — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Christina Rossetti
Christina Rossetti is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Clandon Park Grotto
Clandon Park Grotto — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Clandon Park Temple
Clandon Park Temple — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Columbarium
Columbarium is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Copped Hall Temple
Copped Hall Temple — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Crystal Grotto
Crystal Grotto — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
David Hughes
David Hughes is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Edmund Halley (1656-1742)
Edmund Halley (1656-1742) is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Edward Blore
Edward Blore is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Eliza Vaughan
Eliza Vaughan is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Elizabeth Dare Sanctuary
Elizabeth Dare Sanctuary is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Elm Grove Folly
Elm Grove Folly — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Flint Arch
Flint Arch — Folly or eyecatcher.
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📷 5Follies · London
Frank Holl
Frank Holl is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
George Hering
George Hering is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Giovanni Ettore
Giovanni Ettore is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Giro
Giro is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Gothic Arch
Gothic Arch — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Gothic Ruins
Gothic Ruins — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Gothic Temple
Gothic Temple — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Gothic Tower
Gothic Tower — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Gunnersbury Park Arch
Gunnersbury Park Arch — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Gunnersbury Park Mock Gothic Ruins
Gunnersbury Park Mock Gothic Ruins — Folly or eyecatcher.
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📷 5Follies · London
Gunnersbury Park Temple
Gunnersbury Park Temple — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Hadlow Tower
Hadlow Tower — Folly or eyecatcher, 1830.
📷 5Follies · London
Hatfield House Folly
Hatfield House Folly — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Henry Storks
Henry Storks is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Hermitage
Hermitage — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Hope Mausoleum
Hope Mausoleum is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Horatio Nelson
Horatio Nelson is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
John Maple
John Maple is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
John Wisker died 1807
John Wisker died 1807 is a folly in the United Kingdom.
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📷 5Follies · London
Joseph Westwood
Joseph Westwood is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Karl Marx Original Grave
Karl Marx Original Grave is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Kmety György sírja
Kmety György sírja is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Loddiges Family Tomb
Loddiges Family Tomb is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Lyne-Stephens Mausoleum
Lyne-Stephens Mausoleum — Historic tomb, 1862.
📷 5Follies · London
M A Woolmer, M E Eve & Mary Smith
M A Woolmer, M E Eve & Mary Smith is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Mausoleum of Henry Eaton, Lord Cheylesmore
Mausoleum of Henry Eaton, Lord Cheylesmore is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
McAlpine Mausoleum
McAlpine Mausoleum is a folly in the United Kingdom.
📷 5Follies · London
Milton Park Folly
Milton Park Folly — Folly or eyecatcher.
📷 5Follies · London
Oakington Martyrs’ Graves
Oakington Martyrs’ Graves is a folly in the United Kingdom.
Browse follies by region
Frequently asked questions
- How many follies are in this guide?
- We currently list 767 follies across the United Kingdom — every entry sourced from Wikipedia, Wikidata or OpenStreetMap and validated against our schema.
- Are these places free to visit?
- Many places in the guide are free to enter — almost every national museum, every public park and garden, every parish church and cathedral. Castles, historic houses and theme parks usually charge admission; National Trust and English Heritage members visit those properties free.
- Where does the data come from?
- Every entry is built from open data: OpenStreetMap (locations, tags, opening hours), Wikipedia (descriptions), Wikidata (structured facts and operator information), Wikimedia Commons (images), ONS open data (population). The site never makes runtime API calls — everything is fetched at build time and committed.
- How often is this updated?
- A weekly automated job re-fetches the upstream sources and rebuilds the site. Manual editorial corrections are applied as overlays on top of the open data.