dr_urbanus (Martin)
Brackenridge's Folly
Came across this while out for a drive, it's a striking structure with an intriguing story:
"The Folly stands on a hill in Ballyscally townland, south of Clogher. It is a mausoleum built by George Brackenridge, a much maligned 19th Century Clogher Valley landlord, a self made man of his day. He is reputed to have said that, ‘If the people would not accept him in his own lifetime, at least they would be forced to look up to him when he died’. Thus he set about building his tower – a three story, telescope style building topped by a railed parapet – built over a fault. The construction of the tower and the road leading up to it gave some employment during the last years of the Famine.
Brackenridge was buried in the vault in July 1879, supposedly upside down – believing that when the world ended the Poles would be reversed and therefore he would be facing the right way up for resurrection. His body was placed in the innermost of three coffins. These were broken into nearly fifty years later by the Black and Tans who took his rings and watch chain as souvenirs."
Brackenridge's Folly
Came across this while out for a drive, it's a striking structure with an intriguing story:
"The Folly stands on a hill in Ballyscally townland, south of Clogher. It is a mausoleum built by George Brackenridge, a much maligned 19th Century Clogher Valley landlord, a self made man of his day. He is reputed to have said that, ‘If the people would not accept him in his own lifetime, at least they would be forced to look up to him when he died’. Thus he set about building his tower – a three story, telescope style building topped by a railed parapet – built over a fault. The construction of the tower and the road leading up to it gave some employment during the last years of the Famine.
Brackenridge was buried in the vault in July 1879, supposedly upside down – believing that when the world ended the Poles would be reversed and therefore he would be facing the right way up for resurrection. His body was placed in the innermost of three coffins. These were broken into nearly fifty years later by the Black and Tans who took his rings and watch chain as souvenirs."