Down Hall is a large red brick merchant's folly in Barrow upon Humber in North Lincolnshire, England. Built in 1877 by JW Beeton, a willow merchant from Hull, the building originally served as both a grand house and a factory for the manufacture of coal baskets, chairs, and prams on its top floor and attic. [1] [2] [3]
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Beeton was an eccentric who paid his workers in distinctive octagonal tokens, and observed them cutting osiers from a panoramic view glass tower, (now removed,) on the roof of the building. [2] It is alleged that he lined the drive to the hall with skulls removed from a Saxon burial ground which was disturbed during building.[ according to whom? ]
Down Hall was built by John Sleight of Barrow, who said that the house was based on the calendar using the numbers seven, twenty-four, twelve, fifty-two and even three-hundred-and-sixty-five for numbers and measurements of doors, windows and other fittings. Sleight claimed that the effort of building a house to such eccentric specifications almost killed him.
