Duffy raised the problem of the origin of Popes Folly, but so far I have drawn a blank.
It is not in the index of Tim Carder’s encyclopeadia, and the Tithe map from 1838 in Ray Carters History of Hollingdean only shows it as open fields. A second map Ray used from 1873 showed some development has teken place by then but the 1881 census still does not list Popes Folly. It does however, have 13 new but yet to be occupied properties in a road that no longer appears in the records called Hollingdean Place. Could it be that Popes Folly was originally meant to be called Hollingdean Place? (RG11 1100 91 33). Was Mr Pope a builder who was foolish enough to ask too much so that few people moved into his development? I throw that in as an idea, but would be interested in the thoughts of others on this one.
