Folly

Needle's Eye, Wentworth, South Yorkshire

Apollo Pavilion, Peterlee, County Durham

White Nancy, Bollington, Cheshire

Broadway Tower, Broadway, Worcestershire

Peterson's Folly, Sway, Hampshire

The Dunmore Pineapple, Airth, Scotland

folly (ˈfɒlɪ) 

— n  , pl –lies

1.the state or quality of being foolish; stupidity; rashness

2.a foolish action, mistake, idea, etc

3. a building in the form of a castle, temple, etc, built to satisfy a fancy or conceit, often of an eccentric kind

4.(plural) theatre an elaborately costumed revue

5. archaic

a. evil; wickedness

b. lewdness; wantonness

[from Old French folie madness, from fou mad; see fool]

Definition from Collins English Dictionary- Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

Needle's Eye, Wentworth, UK

The Needle’s Eye, Listed Grade II, Wentworth, South Yorkshire

"Around 1746, the Needle’s Eye, a slender pyramid about 45ft high was built with a tall ogee arch and a flamboyant urn on top. The most memorable factor behind this folly, one of the finest in Britain, is the legend of how it came to be built. The story runs that, one night, the inebriated Earl Fitzwilliam accepted a wager that he could not “drive a carriage through the eye of a needle”. The following morning, sober, he realised the difficulty of completing the challenge so, in an expensive solution, he constructed a narrow arch just wide enough to allow a coach through and called it “The Needle’s Eye”. It is not known if the legend is true. There is evidence of that suggests the building was used for execution by firing squad or target practice, as one side bears several distinct musket-ball marks."

The original inspiration of the exhibition Needle’s Eye was taken from the folly in Wentworth, South Yorkshire.

The forth-coming posts will be a combination of recently finished paintings and found images from the internet which I am sourcing for ideas for future artwork and projects.