'Perrott's Folly'

Hutton referred to 'the Observatory', meaning a tower used for observing the countryside not the weather. It had been built 1758-60 by John Perrott, who had inherited the Rotton Park estate in '37. His home was the rebuilt Lodge. After his death in '66 his grandson John Perrott Noel sold parts of the estate, and the Hinckley land was sold in parcels in the same period.

The 'Monument' as it was later called was not one in fact : the 96-foot, seven-storey tower in mock-Gothic style was a folly, designed to complete the view from the Lodge, half a mile away across the valley and clearly visible. Hutton does not say whether he ever ascended the tower's spiral stair : had he done so, he might have written the following description of the view.