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Perrotts Folly

Like the interior photos Dave. How ornate! Expected it to be quite plain inside. These last 4 photos actually put me in mind of the L of the R film, especially looking at the round windows and the door. Wonder if the Director/ Researchers went around this place before they made the film. Or maybe it's just my imagination. Viv.
 
ellbrown

I think you will find thats the Edgbaston Waterworks Tower in the distance.

Phil
 
I got confused. Must have been the Edgbaston Waterworks Tower I saw from Reservoir Road. But looking at Google Maps both are on Waterworks Road.

Will have to check them out sometime.
 
Here is another photo of the folly. There appears to be another 2 stories regarding this. The first was so he could see his wife's grave in Warstone Lane Cemetry, and the other was to observe the home of his sweetheart who lived at Five Ways and when she died added extra height so he could see her tomb in St Phillips Churchyard.
 
I was born and brought up in Harold Road, just down from both Perrott's Folly and the Waterworks. I also went to King Edward's which was Tolkien's old school (although by the time I went there in 1968 it had long since moved from New Street to Bristol Road). The received wisdom at KE was that the Two Towers were indeed the Folly and the Waterworks. It's also worth noting that one of the hobbits, Sam Gamgee, was named after a doctor who lived across the road from the young Tolkien in Stirling Road.
 
I know nothing about Tolkien or his books, but Leonard Parker & Margaret GAMGEE appear to be living in Norfolk Road during the 1920s

Maurice :cool:
 
Here's an account of the Folly from Gearge Yates' 1830 "An historical and descriptive sketch of Birmingham .....":

"A conspicuous object at Edgbaston is the tall brick tower, seven stories high, called the Monument, erected about the year 1758, by the late John Parrott, Esq. as an Observatory, and not infrequently designated Parrot's Folly. Attached to it is a house, now the residence of another eminent physician, Dr. John Johnstone"

Viv
 
Dave M said:
Few pics it time :) on a open day April 2008 :)
Click to expand...

The Perrotts Folly Company was removed from the charity commission register (no 515165) 29th September 2009 with the reson given "ceased to exist".
The website has gone, too.
 
gnarlybole said:
I was born and brought up in Harold Road, just down from both Perrott's Folly and the Waterworks. I also went to King Edward's which was Tolkien's old school (although by the time I went there in 1968 it had long since moved from New Street to Bristol Road). The received wisdom at KE was that the Two Towers were indeed the Folly and the Waterworks. It's also worth noting that one of the hobbits, Sam Gamgee, was named after a doctor who lived across the road from the young Tolkien in Stirling Road.
Click to expand...

Surgeon Joseph Samson Gamgee (1828-1886) was involved with the start of the Saturday Hospital Fund (now BHSF) which as its headquarters in nearby Monument Road.
Download and read their history for details. https://www.bhsf.co.uk/company/book.html (.pdf reader required)
 
 
I have walked past the folly many times over the years. It had an open art exhibition in 2018. Hope to see inside for myself if it opens to the public again. Take a few puffs on inhaler to manage the stairs though! There are some good internal views in this link and I hadn't realised you could look through the round window and see the Waterworks Tower. Twin Towers indeed.
https://www.business-live.co.uk/incoming/gallery/perrotts-folly-6442658
 
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