Flounder's Folly
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Flounder's Folly is a tower built on Callow Hill, between Craven Arms and Ludlow, Shropshire, England. It dates from 1838, when it was erected by Benjamin Flounders (b1768 - d1846)to mark the boundaries between four large estates and maybe to celebrate his attaining his 70th year, his 'threescore years and ten'.
The tower is approximately 80 feet tall and 16 feet square and is clearly visible (on the skyline) from the Cardiff-Crewe railway line, just north of Craven Arms and also from the busy A49 Shrewsbury to Hereford road. Many think it is 'a fire-tower' or have simply never thought about its purpose or function.
There are a few apochryphal stories, now spun into the local and regional folklore, traditionally known and told locally that it was built so that Mr. Flounders could see his ships coming in and out of the Bristol Channel (or the Mersey)- neither of which are actually visible from the tower - and that when he discovered that he could not do so because of high ground in between he killed himself by jumping off the top of the tower, or conversely descended the tower in a great huff roaring "Take it down!" meaning either the tower or the high ground. Some say he wanted to see his house in Ludlow from the tower - there are no records of him having owned or rented a house in Ludlow, where although he was for very many years a very frequent visitor he preferred to stay at The Angel on Broad Street. There are also no known records of his having ships or interests in Liverpool or Bristol, as he was a man hailing from the North-East of England, near Stockton-on-Tees (why aye!).
These stories amusing though they might be do not do 'the real' Benjamin Flounders justice - he was a prominent Quaker with business interests in key new industries and developments at this time of the Mid Industrial Revolution, such as The Stockton to Darlington Railway (of which he was a founding Director), new canals in his native North-East and he operated his own family businesses very successfuly with large interests in timber (at the time of the War with France), two linen mills and he owned large estates and land in places as diverse as Egham, Surrey and Glasgow. He was it seems, for all of his life, obviously a hard working, astute and forward thinking man of independent means.
Flounder's life was touched by poignant tragedy with the loss of his first wife Mary Walker (daughter of a Quaker shipbuilder)while in childbirth with a premature baby in 1801. They had only married two years previously. Benjamin was 34.
The same year his sister died. Mary, his wife, had produced a daughter early in their marriage, also called Mary, who survived to adulthood and to whom Flounders was very close.
In 1812, after a very suitable interval, Flounders married for the second time, to Hannah Chapman, another Quaker, and in 1813 a son, a male heir is produced - but TB strikes and both mother and infant son are carried off later in 1813.
At the very time when his business interests are close to maximising their fullest potential and this man has everything he could wish for in material terms, status, wealth, servants, sound reputation and personal health, good friends, supportive relatives, his religious faith and many useful connections one of his very raison d'etres is dealt a crushing blow.
This series of events might have caused a crisis of faith, or at least a slight detour from the strict Quaker path for in 1814 Benjamin Flounders received a Church of England baptism. He also beacme a magistrate. He also then became a Trustee of a new turnpike road, invested £10,000 in French water stocks, with further investment subsequently - attaining massive returns for the time without massive risk. Rebuilding his life Flounders moved on and after the death of his mother in 1829 he lets himself go, having reached the age of 60, embarking on the fashionable Grand Tour of Europe with daughter Mary, now 29, visiting the major cities and sights and spending some time in Rome.
On his return from his European travels Benjamin, who inherited the Culmington estate just north of Ludlow, Shropshire, from his wealthy uncle, one Gideon Bickerdike, another very influential Quaker, started plans to build a folly. Benjamin's travels with his daughter and his newer connections in Shropshire especially may have influenced his thinking. At this time he was, through his Ludlow estate, a neighbour of Robert Clive, Earl Craven and Sir Richard Swinnerton-Dyer, Bt. He had big shoulders to rub, impress and be impressed by in turn.
His agent was instructed to negotiate with several local estates to purchase the land the folly was to be erected on and in 1836 the land was marked out, construction commencing at a time of possibly high levels of unemployment locally and it has been suggested that many local masons, builders and construction workers were happy to be paid to build a folly for an influential man with excellent local connections and the possibility of further contracts resulting. However, many workers were it seems occupied with the building of Ludlow's brand new Assembly Rooms at this time too (finished in 1840). So maybe the folly wasn't meant to be a purely philanthropical undertaking.
The fact that Lord Robert Clive came of age in 1840 was possibly part of the plan as a party to celebrate this event was held at the folly.
At around this time Flounders daughter Mary was engaged to marry a Major Arthur Lowe in London, possibly a suitor she had met on The Tour or in Shropshire at a swanky soiree. Flounders did not wholeheartedly approve of the Major as Mary - his closest relative and family member - was to be 'taken from him' by this marriage and an army Major at that time would possibly not have shared Flounders deep faith, values or background and there may have been some 'differences' between the Major and Flounders.
The couple were married but tragedy was to strike Flounders yet again - Mary, Flounders sole heir and his obvious pride and joy, died in 1844, before a home which Flounders was to have funded and given to Mary and Lowe at Culmington was even built. Flounders and Lowe now really fell out - Major Lowe wanted Mary buried in a place of his choosing, Flounders wanted his dear daughter buried in a churchyard at Yarm in his native North-East in the plot set out for himself and his family. Lowe had Mary buried there - but right hard against the church wall - so her father could never be laid next to her.
Flounders, ever resourceful and more than one step ahead simply bought the land on the other side of the church wall, gave the land to the Yarm church and had the wall diverted and extended to thwart Lowe's callous scheme. Flounders also moved to disinherit Lowe - now his son-in-law and heir. Lowe would have inherited extensive business interests, land and property - instead he was left with just an annuity.
The stress of what he saw as an unsuitable marriage on his daughters part, then her tragic death, childless herself and the blazing feud with Lowe had taken its toll on Benjamin Flounders - after 1844/5 he focused on setting his affairs in order, making sure his by now vast wealth and estate was divided according to his wishes, re-writing his will and taking pains to ensure his faithful estate servants were provided for through bequests of money, that Quaker founded schools all over the North-East were bequeathed huge funds, benefitting over 20 schools such as those at Barnard's Castle and Ackworth and even small bequests of coal and blankets were made to the poor of Yarm. His house contents went to his Housekeeper. Hardly the actions of a 'broken man' rather the actions of a wise, mature and careful man of strong principles, playing the hand of cards life had dealt him as best he could.
Flounders died in 1846, aged 78 - without any surviving family and just two years after his beloved Mary - so in effect all his wealth went to others, everything he was born into, had worked and endeavoured to achieve over a very long and prosperous life was in effect reinvested for the greater good - rather than passing in the greater part anyway simply to his daughter and her unpopular husband - it was spread far and wide benefiting countless school pupils over many, many generations who Flounders would never meet but who would undoubtedly thank this man for their education and what it in then enabled them and their own loved ones to achieve.
The folly then is also a fitting tribute to a little known and possibly even misundertood man, an entrepreneur or opportunist both, maybe a resented 'Boss' and maybe perceived by his workers, the ordinary men who toiled to erect his 'folly', as a man born into a privilaged stata of society, too far removed from the realities of life in a harsh world and time. Maybe their spinning stories to their own children of a very rich, very proud and very stupid man thwarted by tragedy and brought to his eventual downfall in building a useless tower on a remote hill in the Shropshire countryside is just one legacy of this tale. The story of a life symbolised by the folly certainly has a very strong moral and some useful object lessons for us all and should be without doubt more widely appreciated.
Over the years following Flounders death the tower slowly fell into disrepair on its exposed hilltop at the highest point of famous Wenlock Edge, needing restoration in the 1920s but by the 1980s was in a dangerous and unstable condition and the castellated top of the tower collapsed in 1987. It had changed hands several times and was owned for a time at least by the actress Julie Christie who had a house nearby for a few years.
In 2001 it was bought by what became The Flounders Folly Trust. With public interest awakened and funding from public and other sources such as The Heritage Lottery Fund forthcoming a very professional restoration programme was commenced in 2001 and completed by 2005 when HRH Princess Anne, The Princess Royal flew in by a helicopter of the Royal Flight to declare the folly restoration complete and the tower is now open to the public at least once a month. The views from the top are breathtaking and encompass the Stretton Hills, Wenlock Edge, the Long Mynd, both Clee Hills, The Radnorshire / Welsh hills and views south reach as far as Mortimer Forest, the Brecon Beacons, Black Mountains and Malvern Hills.
Many walks ascend the hill from various points and it gets mentioned in many walking guides to Shropshire. Some refer to it still as a ruin.
Some people have drawn attention to the fact that a religious man, a Quaker, an eventually childless man, a double widower and a very, very rich man should have built such a very (to our 21st Century eyes at least) 'phallic' object at just before the very juncture in his life when his own potency was destroyed. Interesting and some very amusing theories abound and no doubt all the armchair amateur psychologists could have a field day. Anyone delving beyond the surface of this story would obviously discount this angle as anachronistic, post-modern and Python-esque in its schoolboy humour - the tale itself is far too poignant and timeless to be tarnished with this as any lasting thought on the folly or its first owner.
[edit] References
- Follies, Headley & Meulenkamp, Jonathan Cape 1986 ISBN 0-224-02790-5
- Monumental Follies, Barton, Lyle Publications 1972 ISBN 0-902921-07-X
- The Middle Marches, Baker & Morris, Robert Hale 1983 ISBN 0-7090-0923-2
Flounders Folly - 'The Story of A Shropshire Folly and It's Builder' Belinda Cousens / The Flounders Folly Trust 2005 50 Walks in Shropshire, Julie Royle, AA, 2003, ISBN 007495-3632-2
