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In the 25 years he has lived in his secluded suburban home, Jonathan Bostock paid scant attention to the folly at the bottom of his garden.
But when the company director began tidying up the undergrowth ahead of selling the six bedroom property, he was staggered to discover this gothic construction still standing proud underneath layers of ivy.
Decorated with oyster shells and sheep's teeth and bones, the hidden folly is believed to date from the 18th Century - a time when a manor house stood on the site of his house just a mile outside of Birmingham city centre.
The back yard folly stands a mile and a half away from Perrott's Folly on the other side of leafy Edgbaston, a seven-storey tower said to have inspired JRR Tolkien and which the Lord of the Rings author passed each day on his way to school.
Jonathan Bostock, 61, uncovered a gothic folly (above) buried under layers of ivy at the bottom of his garden in Birmingham when he began tidying the undergrowth
Mr Bostock (above) always knew of the existence of the structure, which was largely hidden in undergrowth at his home in Edgbaston
Mr Bostock said: 'The garden is large and already feels a world away from the city but it is incredible to find a folly such as this tucked away just a mile from the city centre.
'We always
