This book is a quirky and engaging diversion whose purpose is clearly defined by the author in his introduction: to encourage the reader to adventure out to historic locations. It is not designed as a historical reference book, rather a book that ‘flirts’ with history using a selection of ruins and follies to fuel the imagination. Therefore, I admit to a slight disappointment when I started reading that it was not more comprehensive to the archaeological/historical reader, which gave way to feeling mildly perplexed but with a warm appreciation of its charm and eccentricities.
Presented alphabetically by modern place name, the book covers a diverse and slightly random selection of 45 ‘ruins and follies’ that span the chronology of human construction in East Anglia, ranging from the Bronze Age Seahenge at Holme-next-the-Sea to the 2003 modern-art Scallop Sculpture dedicated to Benjamin Britten at Aldeburgh. In between are a myriad of churches and abbeys, towers and windmills, houses, monuments, airbases, a holiday camp and even shipwrecks. Each is well-illustrated by a photo or illustration and accompanied by a page of informative text including some general and location-specific history. For what it contains, it cannot be faulted, but I think it remains a little bit of a random selection, acknowledged by the author as a personal choice. Furthermore, it is a curious if not outright bizarre choice given the title, to include only a single ‘folly’ in the 18th century sense of a decorative, extravagant design and ornamental function (Freston Tower, Ipswich).
In short, this book is interesting to pick up, potentially as the starting point and inspiration to venturing out on a day trip or walk, but it retains the air of a ‘folly’ in itself in that is could be better realised. To serve as a motivator to seek out the locations contained within, the contents could be enhanced to provide the modern place names with a building, house or ruin type and maybe a date. A map would also be useful and potentially a note on survival and accessibility, as personal experience has educated me that one or two are private or slightly dangerous site, a fact acknowledged in the introduction but not identified with specific locations.