Why Is Ireland Covered in Pointless Buildings? | Tales From the Bottle
Ireland is covered in old, historic structures, but bizarrely, some of this architecture serves no purpose – so who built them and why?
“In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-century English landscape gardening and French landscape gardening often featured mock Roman temples, symbolising classical virtues. Other 18th-century garden follies imitated Chinese temples, Egyptian pyramids, ruined medieval castles, abbeys, or Tatar tents, to represent different continents or historical eras. Sometimes they represented rustic villages, mills and cottages, to symbolise rural virtues. Many follies, particularly during times of famine, such as the Great Famine in Ireland, were built as a form of poor relief, to provide employment for peasants and unemployed artisans.
In English, the term began as “a popular name for any costly structure considered to have shown folly in the builder”, the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition. Follies are often named after the individual who commissioned or designed the project. The connotations of silliness or madness in this definition is in accord with the general meaning of the French word folie; however, another older meaning of this word is “delight” or “favourite abode”. This sense included conventional, practical buildings that were thought unduly large or expensive, such as Beckford’s Folly, an extremely expensive early Gothic Revival country house that collapsed under the weight of its tower in 1825, 12 years after completion.
As a general term, “folly” is usually applied to a small building that appears to have no practical purpose or the purpose of which appears less important than its striking and unusual design, but the term is ultimately subjective, so a precise definition is not possible.
The Great Famine of Ireland of 1845–1849 led to the building of several follies in order to provide relief to the poor without issuing unconditional handouts. However, to hire the needy for work on useful projects would deprive existing workers of their jobs. Thus, construction projects termed “famine follies” came to be built. These included roads in the middle of nowhere, between two seemingly random points, screen and estate walls, piers in the middle of bogs, etc.”
More on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folly
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@Qxir
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
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@thresholdhatesrevenant2620
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
I love you ireland. You're so beautiful. Please create your own military and conquer england, or at least push it off into the ocean.
@Johnthesheep
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
3:32 FDR school of economics
@charatome
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
and you may ask yourself… 1:44
@TRAV-718
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
1:15 vapes electronics and money laundering 😂😂😂😂😂
@torbergman6977
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Eww you're Irish!?! My condolences but I guess it could be worst, you could of been English! 😂😂
@kiliang96
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
So what we do in Southern Europe with European money is called a folly? Cool
@Qoleqote
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
5:24. The lighthouse of Alexandria.
@caligula9997
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
being forced to do completely pointless labor that contributes nothing to society by the disgustingly wealthy under threat of starvation?
what a horrible time to live through! i'm glad we have a much better system of organizing resources and labor today
@vincedibona4687
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
The building in the thumbnail has quite a prominent point… 🤷🏻♂️
@ElvenRaptor
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Wife: *GASP* "Ye found work, luv?"
Husband: "Ay. Constuction."
Wife: "Construction? A house? A mansion?"
Husband: "I'm helpin' t'build a funny spiral tower thingy that serves no purpose!"
@Pete-x9z
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
No wonder Irish want Brits off their island.
@Glypza
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
5:15 Spongebob's house gets an upgrade
@MetsanAsukas
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
5:11 😂😂😂 G Simpson for the win! 🎉
@AdvertisingWorldpeace
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Didnt watch a second, just here to POINT out,that your thumbnail just a SUPERPOINTY Builing. SO, even if they ont have point, they are super pointy.
@jonmandelbaum5395
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
A buddy of mine once got in an insult contest with his sister and told her she was pointlesss. Also that he would donate her to science.
@BradyT-gg5
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
“The villains lair could be anywhere!”
The villains lair:
@Aviator_Fox
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
"seeking their golden craft work" You had every opportunity to make a Kraftwerk joke and you didn't. I don't know whether to be disappointed or astonished.
@takunx
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Still funny how many of those relief project follies are still older than the USA.
@zebra1327
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Pineapples used to be a huge sign of wealth, as produce wasn't easily storeable before refrigeration became widespread and pineapples needed a warmer climate, which made them expensive in far away regions.
@em97c
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
They're called "high end apartments" and they're supposed to be "Investment properties" but are priced such that nobody can afford to rent or buy them so it's a bit of a mess really
@randomized4368
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
So they weren't pointless after all (and I'm not referring to it's pointy facade like other comments).
You mock the purpose of the building and even call it cruel, why didn't they just handout free meal to everyone, said like someone that doesn't understand this isn't how you manage a crisis (and of course this is how communists are born).
Beside keeping the dignity of the people, giving them "work" to do in exchange for the meals or money instead of free charity, this way would keep people honest and kept freeloaders away so the resources would only go to those without job and in need of help.
@carton5235
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Making up an excuse to employ people isn't the WORST form of charity, I guess, but making up an excuse to employ and then EXPLOIT and UNDERPAY people is just dumb.
@gnome_truther
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Thumbnail building is very pointy
@kathrineici9811
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
So they’re like useless versions of the Hoover Dam
“Here’s something to do and money for doin it”
@Mewmew-gn5ul
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
This is fascinating. We have stuff like this in the US. During the Great Depression, the government created all kinds of building projects. We had great ones, dumb and silly ones, and controversial ones. The Hoover Dam was one.
@SkratchersOtherWorseChannel
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
BECAUSE IT'S SO MUCH FUN, JAN
@samnicholson5051
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
5:50 As a local, I always thought thought the "witches hat" referred to the mini obelisk (seen to the right of the pyramid in the first picture, for those unfamiliar), the big obelisk has always just been "the obelisk" to me. But maybe that's just me.
Anyway, I'm glad you acknowledged that it was a memorial to the 1740 famine, something that has unfortunately fallen into obscurity and ends up being mistaken for the more recent one.
@mariooo88
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
it's not about the building itself. it's about what the human does with it, that either makes it useful or pointless.
@FurnitureFan
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Is this an AI voice? It's a weird mixture of glottal stops and fluency.
@Yeeeduud
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Hardly pointless if there be a pinnacle of a steeple mate
@thomassnider6691
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Those buildings are hilarious. The Irish are very funny.
@SudsyMedusa53
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
5:12 Pineapples are found all over the place in 18th century symbolism, they were used to represent hospitality.
@AdornamentDesigns
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Going to Ireland on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!
@mikesands4681
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Irish history mostly made you sad, mad or cry, and the drink and music make you glad
@benruniko
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
People who inherited all their money and didn’t earn any from working: “Can’t just GIVE money to people! They might get LAZY!”
🤦
@jamessurnamepending1239
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
I see everyone had the same idea with the thumbnail lol
@pukedroplove
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
I wouldn't learn this shit either if it was always: "Oh yeah, humans suck the most… damn." I'd skip class too!
@thomasmills3934
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
4:10 I live in a suburb or Rockford Illinois called Belvidere.
@childofcascadia
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
Everyones talking about the building being pointy and called pointless.
But no ones talking about how absolutely f'd up it is to force the starving poor to do useless heavy labor for food.
The rich are awful.
@mirabletest
June 16, 2026 at 11:34 am
belvedere -> belvidir lmao, love how in another language it seems like a meaningless word that gets butchered while it just means "good (bel -> bello) to look at (vedere)" in italian