Needle's Eye is a pyramid
Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
which is situated in
Wentworth Wentworth may refer to:
People
* Wentworth (surname)
* Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder
* S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator
* Wentworth Miller (born 1 ...
,
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
In N ...
in northern
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Needle's Eye is one of several
follies
''Follies'' is a Musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.
The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on t ...
in and around
Wentworth Woodhouse
Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is currently owned by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. The building has m ...
park; the others include
Hoober Stand
Hoober Stand is a tower and Grade II* listed building on a ridge in Wentworth, South Yorkshire in northern England. It was designed by Henry Flitcroft for the Whig aristocrat Thomas Watson-Wentworth, Earl of Malton (later the 1st Marquess of ...
and
Keppel's Column
Keppel's Column is a tower Grade II* listed building between Wentworth and Kimberworth in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Keppel's Column is one of several follies in and around Wentworth Woodhouse park; the others include Hoober Stand a ...
.
History
It was constructed approximately in the mid-late 18th century and believed to have been made in order to win a wager, where the
second Marquess of Rockingham claimed he was able to "drive a coach and horses through an eye of a needle".
John Carr John Carr may refer to:
Politicians
*John Carr (Indiana politician) (1793–1845), American politician from Indiana
*John Carr (Australian politician, born 1819) (1819–1913), member of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1865–1884
* John H ...
designed Needle's Eye
alongside some other follies in the area.
One side of the structure is heavily pockmarked. It is alleged
execution by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...
may have taken place at the building since they resemble
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...
balls; however this is unsubstantiated.
Location
Needle's Eye is situated between two disused horse and carriage paths. The area is open to public.
Structure
It is a pyramid made of
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
topped with a funerary urn, encompassing an archway of approximately . The wideness of the archway is roughly enough for a coach and horses to pass through, which fits its alleged purpose of creation.
See also
*
*
Listed buildings in Wentworth, South Yorkshire
Wentworth is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The parish contains 82 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, three are listed at Grade I, th ...
References
{{coord, 53.48465, -1.40441, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham
Grade II* listed buildings in South Yorkshire
Wentworth, South Yorkshire