If you had a lot of money, where would you build a folly? ‘Where would you build a folly?’ Yorke’s Folly on the Nought Moor road out of Bewerley in Nidderdale National Ladscape sets a fine example.
Known as Two Stoops, the dramatic pillars of the folly stand like sentinels keeping watch over Pateley Bridge from their lofty top-of-the-moorland position. In late summer, surrounded by swathes of purple heather interspersed with the bilberry bushes and the green of the woodland and fields beyond, the stones between the pillars are great perching spots as your eyes sweep across the Dale trying to piece together the various hamlets, villages and reservoirs in the distance.
Yorke’s Folly dates back to the Georgian period in the late 18th century when eye catching mock ruins were very much in vogue among the landed gentry. There was also something more philanthropic at the heart of this one too as local estate owner John Yorke commissioned the building to provide employment during a recession.
According to historical records, unemployed men from the neighbourhood were recruited to build the folly in return for 4d a day and a loaf of bread.
In fact Two Stoops was actually Three Stoops with a third, and more substantial, pillar built at the same time before it tumbled down during a storm in the winter of 1893.
Originally the three structures were designed to look like the ruin of an east window or church crossing and borrowed some of the gothic grandeur adopted by the monks when building Fountains Abbey.
Walk up from Bewerley through the very lovely Skrikes Wood before crossing the Nought Bank Moor road and strolling up the final short leg of the journey to the pillars to indulge your own folly-building whims!
Are there any other folles you love? Druids Temple near Masham is a favourite for many.