Broadway Tower stands on top of a hill just outside of the village of the same name, and architecturally is called a folly. The term folly refers to a structure whose appearance is primary decorative, and for which function is secondary. Many follies were built in England in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In America we adapted the notion of follies to our own purposes. We also built structures that turned out to be largely decorative, with not a whole lot of useful purpose. We named one such structure the Bobcats Arena.
Lady Coventry sponsored the building of the Broadway Tower in 1799. It’s designed to look like a castle tower, but the real purpose of the Tower was so Lady Coventry could see if she could see a “beacon” (i.e. fire) lit on top of the Tower from her home 22 miles away across the valley. She could, so the Tower was considered a huge success.
The Tower is still in private hands today, is part of a popular county park, and can be toured for a fee, Although a sign out front said the nuclear bunker was open today, Marty and I decided not to tour. Nuclear bunker? Sounds like Lady Coventry was way ahead of her time.
Great pictures guys and it looks like the sun is out. Keep warm.
ReplyDeleteOnce you get to Broadway, you should stay at The Olive Branch Guest House.
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