Also known as Fuller's Point, this folly stands 35 feet
(10.7 m ) tall in a meadow just off the Battle-Heathfield road B2096, near Wood's Corner in East Sussex (Sometimes spelled Sugarloaf).
Legend has it John "Mad Jack" Fuller made a wager that he could see the spire of St Giles, Dallington from his house, Rose Hill in Brightling. When he Realized that this was not true he had workmen hurriedly erect this folly in order to win the bet. There are many versions of this story which adds to its mystique.
It is thought to have been built in the early 1820s and gets its name from the conical loaf form that sugar was sold in at that time.
It's hard to believe that the Sugar Loaf Folly was actually used as a two storey dwelling. Considering that it is only 15 feet (4.57 m) in diameter it's hard to imagine a family living there.
"It is thought that Simeon Crouch and his family may have lived in the Sugar Loaf in the late 1870s, as family members have been told that one of his daughters, Mabel, was born there in 1879. Relatives of the Lulham family are believed to be the last people to live in the Sugar Loaf. The stone building had two storeys, with windows on each floor. There was a ladder between the two floors and there was also a lean-to kitchen."
Dallingon: Six miles from Everywhere, the History of a Sussex Village,
During the Second World War, the Sugar Loaf became used as an anti-invasion machine gun post.
It fell into disrepair during the 1950s and when Dennis Baker bought Christmas Farm, on which the Sugar Loaf stands, he transferred it to the East Sussex County Council in 1961.
