Why is the building called "The Folly"?: It is
not known for certain how the house received its present name. A much-repeated
story, handed down by word of mouth, relates that Richard Preston overreached
himself financially in building such an elaborate house and that it was never
completed, thus becoming known as "Preston's Folly". There is no
documentary evidence of this, and indeed the probate inventory of 1695 shows
that Preston died an extremely wealthy man. A more likely explanation is that
the name arose as a result of the house's frequent changes of use and the
fact that it remained a "gentleman's residence" for a mere thirty
years after its construction. It was then sold to the Dawson family and shortly
afterwards was divided up and let to a series of tenants for the next 250
years. Local people will remember that in fairly recent times part of the
house was used as a bank and a doctors' surgery.