To call the Marble Arch Mound a folly is an insult to Britain s many great follies telegraph.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from telegraph.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Middleham is known for its castle as well as its links to horse racing. Picture: Simon Hulme
You could say it’s a great archaeological mystery, and one with which we can easily connect, because we’ve all lost things as we wander through life. In most cases the object is found – or can be replaced. But every now and then, something is lost which is so precious that it has a more profound effect.
There’s an example of that here. Today, we can see this treasured object in the Yorkshire Museum. It is a lozenge-shaped pendant, made of 68 grams of gold, and it has a stunning 10-carat blue sapphire stone. It was made in the late 15th century, but the gem itself (it represents heaven) is thought by many to have come from a much earlier piece of (possibly Roman) jewellery and been recycled into what is known as the Middleham Jewel.
What is it about follies that we find so enticing? Perhaps it is their variety – real ruins, fake ruins, monumental columns, ornamental cottages, dovecotes and even gazebos can all be encompassed by the term. Perhaps it is the fact that many are essays in ‘pure architecture’, built with no function in mind other than to delight and entertain. Or perhaps it is the hubris inherent in the name, which calls to mind the aspirations of those who built them – invariably eccentric and sometimes downright mad.
The imaginative and even emotional pull of these structures is borne out by the existence of the Folly Fellowship, a pressure group founded to ‘protect, preserve and promote’ follies everywhere. By everywhere, I of course mean primarily England, for the folly seems to be a curiously English phenomenon, a manifestation of the fabled eccentricity of its inhabitants. Certainly, in discussing the folly, the word ‘eccentric’ never seems to be far off. Some can take it to ext