This building of a tower intrigued me on our travels to Scotland a couple of weeks ago, so I took a couple of photos, so that I could check it out when we got home. I found out it is ‘The Fox Tower’ which was built as part of a large estate for John Metcalf Carleton in 1775. Mr Carleton was an industrial entrepreneur who lived at Helbeck Hall, a Georgian Gothic style mansion he had built outside Brough, Cumbria. Little is left of his cotton mill and the function of the Tower remains a puzzle, but it was probably built as folly for enjoying the splendid views across the Eden Valley. I took the photo just as we had passed Brough Castle on the A66, the tower it is on private land, but you can get a good view from the road. I did have to zoom right in, so the photos are not that clear, but I found the tower interesting. because it reminded me of the shape of tin mines in Cornwall and where some are perched on the edge of cliffs, similar to this tower.
May 2016
Echoes of the Past 
I’ve never seen this, Lynne, but we’ve driven past Brough many times! Will keep an eye open now. There are quite a few castles on that road, as well, worthy of a second look! But we’re always on the way to somewhere else.
We did mange to have a look at one on the way back last week, and joined English Heritage, as I am now classed as a senior…..its a lot cheaper, might as well make use of it 🙂 But we are thinking of having a long weekend there, because of all the castles and interesting little towns, as you say, its somewhere you never have time to stop and explore.
Good idea! Will be interested to see what you find. 🙂
Just need some nice weather 🙂
This looks so interesting – I’m sure there’s a story behind it. We have a good amount of old early settler and Revolutionary War ruins here in the northeast US, but never a tower like that!
I think there must be a story, wether it was built just as a folly or for some reason, but as you say it is very interesting 🙂