[1] Leave the College turning right and then left into Cope Street. At the junction Ladywood Middleway, turn right and then right again into Freeth Street. Follow Freeth Street taking a short cut so as to pass in front of some warehouses i.e. pass alonmgside the front of the units.
[2] Cross over Icknied Port Road and take the right hand pavement on Clark Street. Although the road is blocked off for vehicles the footpath goes to the 'other' part of Clarke Street. Cross Reservoir Road into Sefton Road and follow as it turns left and becomes Eldon Road.
[3] Turn right into Harold Road and then turn right into Waterworks Road. The first of the towers is about 50 yards on the right.
(A) Edgbaston Waterworks Tower is an old engine house. Now part of the Severn Trent site. This tower has been built as part of a water supply plant from Victorian times.
[4] Having viewed the Waterworks Tower re-trace your steps but continue along Waterworks Road until reaching the second tower also known as Perrotts Folly.
(B) Perrotts Folly was built in 1758 by John Perrott, a local landowner and there is some delicious speculation about his motives for putting it up. These include the notion that he needed a vantage point to spy on his unfaithful wife. The truth may be slightly less dramatic. It is most likely to be a combination of observatory and a fashionable and elaborate venue for private entertaining.
In 1884 the pioneering Birmingham glass-maker and meteorologist Abraham Follet Osler began using the building for weather observations. As the Edgbaston Observatory it became part of one of the world’s first regular weather forecasting services – keeping up that work until 1979, at which time it fell into disuse.
In the early 20th century the writer JRR Tolkien lived nearby. Walking around his neighbourhood he would see two towers: the Folly and the Victorian stack which forms part of the Edgbaston Water Works. So the question remains – did the folly emerge from his young imagination as one of the Two Towers in the Lord of the Rings trilogy?
[5] To return to the College continue along Waterworks Road and then turn left into Monument Road. Follow Monument Road keeping to the left of the Church. Cross Ickield Port Road again and following the footpath re-trace your steps back to the College.