Perrott's Folly, , also known as The Monument, or The Observatory, is a 29-metre (96-foot) tall tower, built in 1758. It is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in the

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, United Kingdom.

History

Built in the open Rotton Park by John Perrott in 1758, who lived in Belbroughton, the tower now stands high above the local residential and business housing. There are many stories to explain why the tower was built: that John Perrott wanted to be able to survey his land and perhaps entertain guests; or to spot animals for hunting; or so that he could see his wife's grave, away. From 1884 to 1979 the tower was used as a weather recording station for the Birmingham and Midland Institute. In 1966 the Geography Department of the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

took over the running of the observatory until operations were transferred to the main campus. It has been suggested, but not proven, that the towers of Perrott's Folly and Edgbaston Waterworks may have influenced references to towers in the writings of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

, who lived nearby as a child.

Prospects

The Perrott's Folly Company was formed in 1984 to renovate the tower and make it accessible to the public. The company obtained grants from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

and Birmingham City Council to secure the building. In the summer of 2005 the Perrott's Folly Company, in partnership with Birmingham Conservation Trust, completed work to stabilise the structure. However, money still has to be found to complete repairs to some of the key features. In April 2008 the tower was temporarily opened to the public, housing an art exhibition in co-operation with the

Ikon Gallery The Ikon Gallery () is an England, English art gallery, gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Listed building, Grade II listed, neo-Gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henr ...

. It was opened again in May 2008 as part of a weekend of celebrations of the life of

. The Perrott's Folly Company was formally closed in August 2009. The tower was managed by Trident Housing Association between 2005 and 2017 and is now managed by Re.Future Collective, a Birmingham based Arts and Architecture Collective.

References

Sources

* ''A Guide to the Buildings of Birmingham'', Peter Leather, * *

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20180109181043/http://www.follyproject.org/ {{Coord, 52.4744, N, 1.9312, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Folly towers in England Observation towers in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands Grade II* listed buildings in the West Midlands (county) J. R. R. Tolkien Edgbaston Towers in the West Midlands (county) Towers completed in 1758