Faringdon Folly
History of Folly Hill
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Faringdon FollyHistory of Folly Hill |
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Folly hill stands 447 feet above sea level. Once the site of the Celtic camp the hilltop was possibly the site of a Celtic Castle when Faringdon was the third principal town in Wessex. In 1144 Mathilda sent her half brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester to fortify the town. He built a fairly substantial castle of wood but this was destroyed by the king a year later. During the civil war Faringdon House was besieged on two occasions when Cromwell sited troops on Folly Hill, hence the secondary name Cromwell's battery. When the tower was built number of skeletons were found, these being dated to the Civil War. The summit was planted with Scots Pine by Henry James Pye about 1780, about the time he built the present Faringdon House. He also created the circular path and provided seats. Later to become poet Laureate, and to be notorious for his bad poetry, his work on Folly Hill has been described as probably the most poetic act of his life. His critics lampooned him in the verse that became a nursery rhyme' Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie………." Extract from document produced by Chris France
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