Follies were a particular enthusiasm of eighteenth and nineteenth century estate owners across Ireland and Britain, who shaped their demesnes as though composing a painting, placing ruins, towers, or ornamental arches where they would catch the eye from a house window or the end of a woodland walk.

The Lowville folly sits within what would have been a designed landscape, the term used for estates where the grounds were laid out with deliberate aesthetic intent, as distinct from working farmland or natural terrain. Such landscapes often incorporated water features, specimen trees, walled gardens, and eye-catchers of various kinds, the folly being perhaps the most theatrical element of all. In Ireland, many of these ornamental structures were built during periods of relative prosperity among the landed gentry, and a number were constructed using estate labour during the nineteenth century, sometimes during periods of economic hardship when landlords organised building works as a form of local employment. Without more detailed records attached to this particular site, the precise date of construction, the family responsible, and the original form of the structure remain unclear.