Hubert Walter Wandesford Fenwick, architect turned architectural historian and writer, was a regular contributor to The Scots Magazine, a monthly publication that claims to be the oldest magazine in Britain still in publication, having been launched in 1739. In 1965 Fenwick wrote an article about ‘Features and Follies’, in Scotland, illustrated with his own very attractive colour sketches.

Fenwick (1916-2003) starts, as so many writers on architectural curiosities do, with the thorny question of how to define a folly. He quotes the Universal English Dictionary which states that a folly is a ‘useless, fantastic structure, built from foolish caprice’, but he does not think it is an accurate description. He then launches into an analogy which the Flâneuse rather likes: ‘… after all, most oil paintings are useless, unless they happen to cover a gap or a dirty mark on the wall. Most paintings are fantastic, some even foolish, but they, nevertheless, tend to make life more interesting and civilised, and they express an aspect of the human spirit.’ It is, he concludes, the same with a good folly. He is however strict about his classifications of what is a folly and what is a feature.

McCaig’s tower at Oban, for instance, is a feature, not a folly, as it was originally intended as an ’eminently practical’ museum. According to Fenwick’s rules, the Wallace Monument at Stirling is a commemorative tower, not a folly.

The buildings that do qualify as folly in Fenwick’s opinion are a particularly lovely bunch, and amongst his selection are The Whim at Blair which he describes as a ‘dummy fort’, the sham ruin on Balcarres Crag in Fife, the tower on Kinnoul Hill in Perth which was built to show that the Tay was the equal of the Rhine, Ossian’s Temple (aka the Hermitage) at Dunkeld, the Craigiehall Temple and Hume Castle which is a ‘magnificent fake’. The Pineapple at Dunmore is included for its ‘extremely clever and imaginative design’.

Fenwick wrote the piece in response to a book about follies which he had recently read. He felt cheated as it contained ‘less than a dozen Scottish examples’ (actually there are exactly twelve), and only two that ‘could legitimately be so designated’. He failed to name the book, but he does give the clue that it was produced by a ‘petrol firm’, so we can be sure it was Follies, written by Ella Hatt, beautifully illustrated by Paul Sharp, and published by National Benzole in 1963 (there’s more about that book here.) In case you are wondering, the two true follies that Fenwick approved of in the book were the sham on Balcarres Crag and the Hermitage at Dunkeld.

You can read more about the history of the Scots Magazine here.

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On the rocky outcrop known as Balcarres Craig (or Crag) stands an elegant eye-catcher in the form of a circular tower with ruined curtain walls attached. It was built in 1813 for Robert Lindsay of Balcarres House as a ‘grand object in the landscape’.

The rock was a natural feature of the Balcarres estate, and was described in 1849 as ‘worth all that twenty Browns could do for any place in conferring romantic beauty’ – a withering put-down of the artificial earth-moving of the 18th century landscaper Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

The sham ruin gave magnificent views as well as announcing the importance of the Balcarres demesne to those who saw the tower from a distance. It was also a dramatic eye-catcher to be seen from the mansion.

The tower was originally surmounted with a flagstaff and on high days and holidays the flag was flown and cannon fired from the tower.

19th century accounts boast of the views from the top of the tower – as well as Stirling and Edinburgh castles the panorama included the Firth of Forth with the mighty Bass Rock, the mountain Ben Ledi, and the Pentland, Ochil, Lammermuir and Campsie ranges of hills. Although mature trees block some of the vistas there are still magnificent views today.

In 1932 the ‘popular minister of Colinsburgh’, Rev. John Adams (d.1941) published a ‘charming volume’ of nature rambles in the neighbourhood of Balcarres Crag. He prefaced his book with a poem on the tower which begins:

Dear to me this high-flung tower,
Rich in song and story;
Fair the day, and calm the hour,
When in all its glory:
Echoing footsteps linger still
Round Balcarres’ flag-crowned hill.

The book was illustrated by Walter Buchanan, who seems to have been the Assistant Factor on the Balcarres Estate.

Not too far from Balcarres Craig is East Newhall Mains on the Cambo estate (mains being the Scottish term for a farm complex). In Follies, Grottoes and Garden Buildings, published in 1999, Gwyn Headley and Wim Meulenkamp sensed that the buildings had an interesting future and wrote that the site would ‘repay a visit in a couple of years’. The Folly Flâneuse waited a little longer than that, but it turns out that it was excellent advice.

Behind a sham castle folly façade is the Kingsbarns Distillery, meaning that for perhaps the first time ever the passions of the Flâneuse and her Uncouth Companion have been united in one building. Sláinte.

As the Rev Adams wrote in 1932 the ‘physical exertion’ of the climb to the tower will be ‘amply repaid’. There’s more on the Balcarres estate here https://www.eastneukestates.co.uk/about-the-estates-of-the-east-neuk/balcarres/

As well as furnishing the Uncouth Companion with whisky, Kingsbarns Distillery also provides a welcoming cafe after a good folly walk https://www.kingsbarnsdistillery.com

Thank you for reading. As ever, your thoughts are very welcome – please scroll down to the comments box to get in touch.