architecture, belvedere, Cumbria, eyecatcher, Folly, museum, Observatory, Tower

Braystones Tower, or Watson’s Folly, Braystones, Cumbria

In the late 19th century Braystones was a peaceful hamlet close to the Cumberland coast with views out across the Irish Sea. It was here that William Henry Watson built a tower to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. Half a century later, the view would change dramatically: were one able to climb the tower today the eye would be first caught by the great mass that is the Sellafield Nuclear Plant.