Hartcliff Folly

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The Hartcliffe Folly (or Tower) near Penistone, South Yorkshire, England was built in 1856 by a linen merchant called Henry Richardson. At this time the Linen works were Barnsley’s largest industry. Richardson also built Hartcliffe Lodge before becoming the first Mayor of the borough of Barnsley. The tower looks as though it’s a Folly but it has stairs running through the middle of it and some believe that it was used as a viewing platform for game shooting. Other ideas are that it was used as a look out for Mr. Richardson returning from Manchester on business.

Some people say that from the tower you can see Hawkstone Park in North Shropshire (60 miles away). In ancient time, folk would rest by the tower.

The Folly was in disrepair but was restored in 1999/2000. It has since occasionally been open to the public, such as on August 1st 2006 when Penistone hosted the ‘Yorkshire Day’ celebrations.