architecture, eyecatcher, Folly, Kent, Temple

Jezreel’s Tower, Gillingham, Kent

The tower was hugely popular as the subject of picture postcards.

Jezreel’s Tower, which once stood on Chatham Hill in Gillingham, was one of those unfinished fantasies that became folly after their original purpose had failed. This architectural extravaganza was built as home to the ‘New and Latter House of Israel’, a religious group founded in the late 19th century which had a short and very colourful history, and left behind a unique building.

architecture, eyecatcher, Folly, sham castle, staffordshire, Tower

The Round Tower, Tutbury Castle, Tutbury, Staffordshire

Tutbury Castle is best known as one of the fortifications in which Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned. The ruins that stand today have been remodelled on a number of occasions since those days, and in the middle of the 18th century the motte, long since missing its genuine tower, was embellished with a sham ruined turret called the Round Tower.