Folly History

History

The Hill existed long before the Folly Tower was built, and because of it's position was the ideal location to look out for invading troops.Both Civil Wars and by the Homeguard in WW2 see http://www.faringdon.org/faringdon-through-history.html

There were three people who were most influential in giving the town its iconic Folly on Folly Hill; the Poet Laureate Henry James Pye, Lord Berners, and Robert Heber-Percy.

Courtesy of Nancy Berners

Lord Berners ballet pose

Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson 14th Baron Berners (1884-1950) is more commonly referred to as Lord Berners. We have his dry surreal sense of humour to thank for the Folly on Folly Hill: he had the Tower built to tease the neighbours!
Berners was in all senses of the word the Gay Lord: generous, talented, amusing, hospitable and generally one of the most fascinating and idiosyncratic personalities of his time. He was also an accomplished writer, painter and composer. Stravinsky called him the best British composer of the twentieth century and Diaghilev commissioned him to compose the score for the Triumph of Neptune.
Berners made Faringdon House the centre of a glittering social circle, entertaining some of the most diverse, creative and influential people during the 1920s and 30s. His typical weekend guest list could have included any one or all of the following: Aldous Huxley, HG Wells, Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Edith Sitwell, Nancy Mitford, Stravinsky, Diaghilev, Diana Mosley, John & Penelope Betjeman, Elsa Schiaparelli… Berners’ themed parties were legendary.

In 1950, when Lord Berners died, Robert Heber-Percy inherited the Faringdon House and Estates. The wild gay parties at Faringdon House did continue in the 50s and 60s, but for Robert the inheritance also carried with it a strong sense that he was the custodian of the past and for the future. In these later years, much of Robert’s energy and persistence was dedicated to protecting and developing the Berners’ legacy and Estates, including the eccentric and the surreal.

Robert Heber-Percy

Folly Tower Opening. The Tatler Nov 1935

“The handsomest man I have ever seen” was said of Robert Heber-Percy (1911-1987) by men and women alike.
In 1931 at the age of 20, Robert became Lord Berners’ companion. Robert’s high spirits and uninhibited behaviour were “enchanting” to Lord Berners and also an important element in the entertainment of the glitterati that partied at Faringdon House during the 1930s. Robert’s extrovert behaviour earned him the nickname “The Mad Boy”.
There was a twenty seven year age gap between the two men, but they certainly shared a well-developed sense of the ridiculous.
In 1935, Robert was given the Tower as a birthday present, although he admitted later in life that he had made an ungrateful comment in response. He would rather have had a horse!
Robert was also a strong supporter of Faringdon in many different ways. In 1985, just two years before he died, he gifted to the people of Faringdon the Woodland and the Tower – now fully restored.

Henry James Pye

Faringdon's very own Poet Laureate, Henry James Pye (1745-1813), was generally acknowledged to have been the worst Poet Laureate ever. But Pye also planted the Scots Pine trees on Folly Hill, and this work has been described as probably the most poetic act of his life. Now, 200 years later, the four acres of woodland are absolutely integral to our Folly on Folly Hill.

Pye, earning £27 per year, was Poet Laureate to mad King George III. His birthday ode to the King was so bizarrely florid and so full of chirrupy heavenly choirs that a literary critic of the time lampooned his poetry and punned his name in the now popular nursery rhyme containing the lines “…four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie”. The four and twenty blackbirds are of course the heavenly choirs!

The Folly before the tower was built

The Hill gave Faringdon its name. The Saxon name for Faringdon was faern-dune (fern-covered hill). This small hill just to the East of Faringdon and rising to 300 feet above the surrounding countryside, has collected numerous names throughout the course of its documented history. One of these (Folly Hill) is at least a thousand years older than the “Folly” that was built on it in 1935.
Ingenious and creative theories have evolved to explain the various names for the Hill. The word “Folly” perhaps shares its origins with the Norman Conquest and the French feuille (meaning leafy), or maybe it is the Viking influence and the Norse word fall, or the Old English fiæli (both meaning autumn) that provide equally credible linguistic links.

Civil War re-enactment

The Un-Civil War and Cromwell’s Battery
With King Charles I headquartered in Oxford (1642), Faringdon was on the Civil War front line and was embroiled in many gory battles. Cromwell’s men were stationed on the slopes of Folly
Hill – from where they bombarded the church with cannon in a vain attempt to topple the steeple onto the Royalists - or so it is said.
Folly Hill – or “Cromwell’s Battery” as it was then also referred to – was certainly battle-scarred, but in the 16th century was still treeless and towerless.
When the Tower was built, real skeletons were found right underneath. Maybe that’s why the floor feels so icy.

World War II Observation post for the Home guard
The Home Guard was formed in late May 1940 following the wireless broadcast appeal by Anthony Eden.

The Folly gave 360 degree all round observation and would have been manned in shifts by two or three men throughout the invasion scare period in 1940 but would have been more relaxed as the invasion threat declined.
More information on http://www.faringdon.org/world-wars.html

Example Hill Fort

The Sands of Time
Go back 150 million years - a mere twinkle in geological time – and Faringdon was just a coral reef wallowing in the warm shallow sea where we now find the Mediterranean.
There was no Hill yet. Then, over the next 50 million years or so, gentle folding and deposition led to the sand dune that is Folly Hill. The sand sitting on impervious clay forms a natural aquifer for well water, and therefore makes the Hill ideal for fortifications and castles.

Excavated bones tell us that the battles on the bare Hill (the trees were only added in the 1780s) were many, brutal and bloody. There were hill forts in pre-Roman times; King Alfred the Great had a castle here in the 9th century, as did Queen Matilda 300 years later. And when her cousin Stephen stormed the Folly Hill Castle, Matilda only narrowly escaped - in her pyjamas!