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I have now been contacted by someone who told me that the local story associated with it, was that the family of Belchamp Hall were not on amicable terms with the family at Gestingthorpe Hall. The latter being situated some 1.518 miles (2,672 yds) away on a general SW bearing (actually a bearing of 210 degrees as best I can tell) and that on the top of Gestingthorpe Hall was situated a construction that reflected the sunlight into Belchamp Hall at certain times. It was thought that either a glasshouse or observatory was the cause of this reflection.

The folly was built therefore to block this irritating reflection, and its positioning would therefore have to have been critical. The arches that were built into the folly though, would have made it less effective, but would have at least provided a better appearance to the observer, than just a large wall.



Using some specialised large scale maps and knowing the position of both houses, made it possible to try and test this story. Much depends on the precise location, in the two dimensional plane, of the reflecting body on top of Gestingthorpe, and also the same applies to the location at Belchamp Hall that was affected by the reflection. Was it all of Belchamp, or just one or two windows for example ?

So taking the mid point of Belchamp Hall to be located at 582630 240700 and of Gestingthorpe Hall to be at 581350 238645 a line drawn between the two on mapping software does indeed cross in the general area of where the folly is thought to be. This is not in any way proof, but certainly a result to merit further investigation. And so it did.

GPS Discovery

I was contacted in May of 2007 by Graeme Douglas. The information he provided has shed some new light on the local story, here is what he discovered, in his own words:

"I visited the site with a GPS receiver and measured the positions of the two halls and the folly.

This is what I found:
Belchamp Hall 52* 2.111 N, 0* 39.743 E
Over Hall 52* 1.046 N, 0* 38.353 E
Folly centre 52* 1.904 N, 0* 39.416 E

The positions of both houses had to be taken from locations where I was able to stand without trespassing on the properties, in both cases on the road in front of the houses, but in a position which marked a line of site between them. So although these coordinates do not mark the exact location of the houses, they indicate the relative bearing between them and the folly.
When plotted, the bearing from Belchamp to Over is about 219 degrees and the bearing of Belchamp to the folly is 224 degrees, putting the folly about 0.03 miles or 53 yards off the line of sight between the two halls.
It therefore seems to throw some doubt on the story about the wall being built to block a reflection".

Curious.. I personally know how accurate GPS can be, the one I own is accurate to 8ft. So perhaps the folly was just built on a whim, as so many were, perhaps maybe just to make the other family envious, as in their Hay-Day, folly building was considered a great fashion after all. In addition, this particular eyecatcher is relatively small as eye catcher follies go, and it being full of holes, really would not have provided much of the required "screening", if the local story about it was true.

True or False, it is still a good folly story!

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Co-Ords: 582400 240318 / TL 824403   

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