Sitting on a rocky promontory overlooking the sea, the forlorn, decayed structure tells a tale of love gone awry…of one man’s folly in trying to win the woman he loved.
The story goes:
That years ago a wealthy Irish man came to Portland Jamaica (reputed the most beautiful of all the fourteen parishes) and fell in love, not only with the land, but with a local beauty. In his eagerness to win her heart he decided to build a Great House overlooking the sea where they could spend the rest of their years in bliss. But alas, the foolish gentleman, in his haste to construct the perfect home for his bonny lass, chose to use material found on site…sea sand and seawater for the construction.
Needless to say, the house began crumbling around them as soon as it was completed. The bonny lass fell sick and died at the Great House and the gentleman returned home with a broken heart, never to set foot in Jamaica again.
And so the place was named in his honour…or more appropriately for his Folly.
