Towers & follies

51 places across Britain and Ireland

• Abernethy Round TowerAbernethy, Perth and Kinross · One of only two Irish-style round towers in Scotland, and nobody is sure why.
• Ardmore Round TowerArdmore, County Waterford · One of the last and finest of Ireland's round towers.
• Beckford's TowerLansdown, Bath, Somerset · A reclusive millionaire's lookout tower, and his tomb beside it.
• Brechin Round TowerBrechin, Angus · One of only two Irish-style round towers in Scotland.
• Broadway TowerBroadway, Worcestershire · Built to see whether a beacon could be spotted from twenty miles away.
• Clavell TowerKimmeridge, Dorset · A clifftop tower that was moved inland, stone by stone, to stop it falling into the sea.
• Clytha CastleNear Abergavenny, Monmouthshire · A mock castle built out of a husband's grief.
• Conolly's FollyNear Maynooth, County Kildare · An obelisk on arches, built to give work in a famine.
• Darwen Jubilee TowerDarwen Hill, Lancashire · A tower celebrating the people who won back their moor.
• Derry Ormond TowerNear Lampeter, Ceredigion · A lonely tower said to have been built to give work to locals.
• Devenish Round TowerDevenish Island, Lower Lough Erne, County Fermanagh · A perfect round tower on an island monastery.
• Faringdon FollyFaringdon, Oxfordshire · England's last great folly, with a famously dark warning sign.
• Freston TowerNear Ipswich, Suffolk · A Tudor tower with a different lesson on every floor.
• Hadlow TowerHadlow, Kent · A Gothic tower built, the story goes, to keep watch on the sea, or on a runaway wife.
• Haldon BelvedereNear Exeter, Devon · A triangular tower built for a general who fought in India.
• Hook LighthouseHook Head, County Wexford · One of the oldest working lighthouses in the world.
• Horton TowerHorton, Dorset · A six-sided folly built to watch the hunt.
• Jack the Treacle EaterBarwick, near Yeovil, Somerset · A folly crowned by a running man who lived on treacle.
• Kilmacduagh Round TowerNear Gort, County Galway · Ireland's tallest round tower, and it leans.
• King Alfred's TowerStourhead, on the Somerset–Wiltshire border · A triangular tower where Alfred is said to have rallied his army in 878.
• Leith Hill TowerNear Dorking, Surrey · A tower that lifts the highest hill in south-east England over 1,000 feet, with its builder buried beneath.
• Lord Hill's ColumnShrewsbury, Shropshire · The tallest Greek Doric column in the world.
• McCaig's TowerOban, Argyll · A Roman-style colosseum above Oban, left unfinished when its builder died.
• Mow Cop CastleMow Cop, Staffordshire–Cheshire border · A ruin that was built as a ruin, on a hill where a church was born.
• Old JohnBradgate Park, Leicestershire · A tower shaped like a beer mug, built for a miller killed at a bonfire party.
• Paxton's TowerLlanarthne, Carmarthenshire · A tower for Nelson, or, as legend tells it, revenge on the voters who rejected a bridge.
• Perrott's FollyEdgbaston, Birmingham · One of the 'two towers' said to have inspired Tolkien.
• Peterson's TowerSway, Hampshire · A concrete tower built on instructions from the spirit of Christopher Wren.
• Racton MonumentNear Chichester, West Sussex · A ruined folly in the woods with a sinister reputation.
• Scrabo TowerNewtownards, County Down · A Scottish-style tower on a hill above Strangford Lough.
• Severndroog CastleShooters Hill, London · A widow's tower in the woods, named after a pirate fortress in India.
• Sir Tatton Sykes MonumentGarton Hill, near Sledmere, East Yorkshire · A 120-foot spire for a famous horse breeder.
• Smailholm TowerNear Kelso, Scottish Borders · A rugged Border tower that inspired Sir Walter Scott.
• Stoodley PikeNear Todmorden, West Yorkshire · A peace monument that fell the day Britain went to war.
• The Burton Pynsent MonumentCurry Rivel, Somerset · A column built by a prime minister, later nicknamed the Cock Monument.
• The Dunmore PineappleNear Airth, Falkirk · A summer house topped by a giant stone pineapple.
• The Hardy MonumentBlack Down, near Portesham, Dorset · A tower for the 'Kiss me, Hardy' admiral, not the novelist.
• The Hoad MonumentUlverston, Cumbria · A lighthouse on a hill, miles from the sea.
• The Jubilee Tower, Moel FamauMoel Famau, Denbighshire · An unfinished Egyptian monument blown down by a storm.
• The Kymin Round HouseThe Kymin, Monmouth · A hilltop banqueting tower that Admiral Nelson visited.
• The Marquess of Anglesey's ColumnLlanfairpwll, Anglesey · A column for the general who lost his leg at Waterloo.
• The National Wallace MonumentAbbey Craig, Stirling · A tower guarding William Wallace's great sword.
• The Scott MonumentPrinces Street Gardens, Edinburgh · The biggest monument to a writer in the world.
• The Sugar LoafBrightling, East Sussex · A fake church spire built to win a bet.
• The Tattingstone WonderTattingstone, Suffolk · Two cottages disguised as a church, with a tower that has only three sides.
• The Tower of LloydHill of Lloyd, Kells, County Meath · A lighthouse built miles from the sea.
• The Tyndale MonumentNorth Nibley, Gloucestershire · A tower for the man burned for translating the Bible into English.
• The Waterloo Monument, Peniel HeughNear Ancrum, Scottish Borders · A tower built by a marquis's tenants to celebrate Waterloo.
• The Wellington MonumentNear Wellington, Somerset · A giant obelisk on the Blackdown Hills, honouring the victor of Waterloo.
• Timahoe Round TowerTimahoe, County Laois · A tower with a doorway of carved heads with tangled hair.
• Wainhouse TowerHalifax, West Yorkshire · A factory chimney that became the tallest folly in the world, out of pure spite.