The Umberslade Obelisk is a Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

monument in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England constructed by order of

Thomas Archer, 1st Baron Archer Thomas Archer, 1st Baron Archer (21 July 1695 – 19 October 1768) was an English Member of Parliament, who was created Baron Archer in 1747. His arms are blazoned: ''Azure three arrows or.''Umberslade Hall Umberslade Hall is a 17th-century mansion converted into residential apartments situated in Nuthurst near Tanworth-in-Arden, Warwickshire. It is a Grade II* listed building. The Archer family were granted the manor of Umberslade by Henry II in ...

in 1749. The obelisk is constructed from grey limestone and stands tall. The reason for its construction is unknown, but it may have simply been to enhance the view from the hall windows. The obelisk lies near the

M40 motorway The M40 motorway links London, Oxford and Birmingham in England, a distance of approximately . The motorway is dual three lanes except for junction 1A to junction 3 (which is dual four lanes) a short section in-between the exit and entry slip-r ...

History

The obelisk was constructed in 1749 by

. It seems to have been constructed during a period of re-landscaping of the parkland around Umberslade Hall. The more formal 17th-century-style park, which included several smaller obelisks near to the hall, was replaced in the mid-18th century in a more naturalistic style. The obelisk was built by

William Hiorne William Hiorne (c. 1712 – 22 April 1776) was an architect and builder based in Warwick. With his younger brother David Hiorne (1715–58), he worked for William Smith of Warwick and they succeeded Smith in business. His son, Francis Hiorne also ...

of Warwick. There is no record of the reason for its construction; in 1905, the historian William Holden Hutton described it as "Lord Archer's monument of nothing in particular". It is possible that it commemorates Archer's elevation to the peerage (as Baron Archer of Umberslade) in July 1747. It has also been proposed that it marks the defeat of the 1745–46 Jacobite rising as Archer was a prominent member of the Whig party who opposed the rising. Other claims are that it marks the meeting place of the last coven of witches in Warwickshire or a nearby gospel tree, a place of informal Christian worship, said to date to the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

. The construction came at a time when the erection of obelisks was popular on English country estates and the purpose of the monument may simply be to enhance the view from Umberslade Hall. It is placed so as to be prominently visible from the windows of the hall. The clergyman and writer William Field describes it as "a fine Obelisk, which forms a striking object from the windows of the house" in his 1815 book ''An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Town and Castle of Warwick and of the Neighbouring Spa of Leamington'' and, shortly after construction,

Henrietta Knight, Lady Luxborough Henrietta Knight, Baroness Luxborough (;born 15 July 1699, died 26 March 1756), was an English poet and letter writer, now mainly remembered as a gardener. She married the rising politician Robert Knight in 1727, but he banished her to his es ...

, was invited to the hall specifically to view the obelisk from its windows. Travel writer

Fanny Parkes Fanny Parkes or Parks (née Frances Susanna Archer) (1794–1875) was a travel writer from Wales, known for her extensive journals about colonial India, where she lived for 24 years. These are recorded in her memoirs ''Wanderings of a Pilgrim in ...

noted in 1850 that the obelisk "leans fearfully".

Description

The obelisk is made from grey limestone

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

and is square in cross section. The obelisk sits atop a two-tier stepped square plinth with a moulded cornice on the upper tier. There is no inscription on the plinth. At the top of the obelisk is a stone ball

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

, which was originally gilded, and a metal spike, to which was originally affixed a copper eight-armed cross (which has also been described as a star). The monument is a

Grade II listed 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 ...

structure and the listing notes that it is to be considered in context with the nearby Obelisk Farmhouse, which is also Grade II listed. Though originally a focal point of the view from the hall the setting of the obelisk has been adversely affected by the planting of a group of conifers as part of the construction of the

in the late 1980s.

References

{{coord, 52.3423, N, 1.7880, W, display=title Grade II listed monuments and memorials Obelisks in England Monuments and memorials in Warwickshire Grade II listed buildings in Warwickshire Buildings and structures completed in 1749 Tanworth-in-Arden