Brown's_Folly
Browne's Folly
Site of a tower with the same name in Somerset, England
Browne's Folly, or Brown's Folly (grid reference ST793662), is a folly tower sitting within a 39.9 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near the English village of Bathford in Somerset, notified in 1974: the site itself is known as the Farleigh (sometimes Farly) Down Stone Quarry and is managed as a nature reserve by the Avon Wildlife Trust (AWT). The tower was built in 1848 and is a Grade II listed building.[1]
The site is situated on steep west-facing slopes which overlook the River Avon. The calcareous soils have developed on Lower Lias clays, fuller's earth and oolitic limestone strata of Jurassic age.[2] The local geology is of major importance in the context of the British Bathonian stratigraphy.[2]
The site forms part of the Bath and Bradford-on-Avon Bats Special Area of Conservation and includes the remains of quarries used for the extraction of Bath Stone. These provide a rich variety of wildlife habitats. Downland flora has covered the spoilheaps where wild thyme, harebell and nine species of orchid (including the rare Fly Orchid) are found.[3]: 252 Yellow Bird's-nest occurs here.[3]: 108 The damp cliff faces support a variety of ferns, fungi and spiders. Pockets of ancient woodland on the lower slopes are home to woodpeckers, and unusual plants such as Bath asparagus.