page_title: Folly Tower, Pontypool
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Folly Tower, Pontypool / Early history
context_page_description: The Folly Tower - - is a folly located within the grounds of a working farm, close to Pontypool Park, Torfaen, South Wales. It is a prominent local landmark above the A4042 Pontypool to Abergavenny road and overlooks Pontypool to the west and rural Monmouthshire to the east. The Folly is octagonal in shape and roughly 40 ft high and is approximately 1,000 ft above sea level on the eastern hill range of the Eastern Valley of Monmouthshire, just south of Mynydd Garn-Wen. Less than a mile from the folly is the Shell Grotto.
context_section_description: The precise date of construction is unknown but it is generally thought that the original tower was built around 1765 to 1770 by John Hanbury, a local landowner and ironmaster who owned Pontypool Park. The local name of The Folly was in use as far back as 1865 when the Free Press of Monmouthshire described it as:
  "...an elevated spot where a Tower (formerly a Roman watch-tower) was many years since rebuilt as an observatory and which is popularly known as 'The Folly'."
  It is thought the tower was renovated around 1831 by Capel Hanbury Leigh. This date is derived from a keystone from the doorway bearing an '1831' inscription. The tower provided a vantage point over the local area and quickly became popular and a well known feature of the area.
  In May 1935 an estimated 15 to 20,000 people gathered at the Folly Tower to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V with the lighting of a bonfire.
  However, the folly, being open to the elements, began to fall into a state of disrepair during the late 1930s. Pontypool Park Estate Office attached notices to the structure informing visitors of the potential dangers of falling masonry. Its draw on the locals though remained unstinted and local poet and illustrator Myfanwy Haycock penned the following verse in 1937:
  Here where the hill holds heaven in her hands,
  High above Monmouthshire the grey tower stands,
  He is weather-worn and scarred, and very wise,
  For rainbows, clouds and stars shine through his eyes.
caption: The Folly Tower, Pontypool, circa 1930s, before being demolished during the Second World War
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