Follies True follies are rare in the Peak but there was good reason for building structures which give pleasure but no profit, and that was to provide work for local men. This was why Boot's Folly, a stone look-out tower, was built on Bradfield Moor in 1927. Jobs were scarce and many local men were unemployed. The work was paid for by Charles Boot, a wealthy building contractor, of Sugworth Hall. The square gritstone Earl Grey Tower, or Reform Tower, stands on Stanton Moor. It was built by the Thornhills of Stanton Hall to honour Charles, 2nd Earl Grey, who as Whig Prime Minister introduced the 1832 Reform Bill, which earned the gratitude of a nation half-starved and on the verge of revolt. The tower is no longer open to the public. At the end of the 19th century, a tumbledown tower was rebuilt 1,450 ft (442m) above sea-level on Grin Low, Buxton. The land was occupied by a man called Solomon Mycock, so the tower became known as Solomon’s Temple. It was restored again in 1987. Visitors can walk up to Solomon’s Temple from Buxton Country Park and admission is free. The round Victoria, or Prospect Tower, in Matlock Bath was built in 1844 on the Heights of Abraham and thousands of visitors a year still climb its steep spiral staircase. On the opposite hillside is Riber Castle, built in 1862 for John Smedley, the famous hydropathic pioneer. Because there was no reliable water supply, his grand residence was often mocked as ‘Smedley’s Folly’. More Pictures Wonders of the Peak