Irish Follies and Whimsical Architecture

Join photographer George Munday on a tour around the eccentric, beautiful, bizarre and eye-catching follies that decorate our island.

Ireland possesses a wealth of follies – picturesque buildings erected to commemorate loved ones, to enhance a view, to tell a tale from the past … or simply on the whim of their wealthy owners.

Discover the Jealous Wall at Belvedere, County Westmeath, erected by Robert Rochfort to block his brother’s house from view, and Conolly’s Folly in Castletown, County Kildare, built to provide work during famine. Visit Ireland’s only inland lighthouse, at Lough Corrib, the delightful Shell House at Ballymaloe, County Cork, and a former ice-cream parlour in Roscommon with harp-shaped windows, among many others.

Photographer George Munday’s breathtaking images are accompanied by the intriguing stories behind the construction of these wonderful oddities that dot our landscape.