Wychbury Obelisk

[1] [2] Visible for miles around, and accessible from public footpaths, it was for a while connected with a murder victim discovered on the nearby Lyttelton estate.

In July 1764, Sir Richard Lyttelton 'ordered a new Embellishment to be added to the Prospect of our Windows [Hagley Hall] by erecting an Obelisk of 70 feet high on the Summitt of the hill next to Wichbury at his expence.'

It is not until September 1770, however, that Lord Lyttelton writes that 'My Obelisk is finished', so possibly there were problems in its building.

[6] There was much debate for decades over whether the eventually disintegrating structure should be demolished for safety reasons, but the consensus was that time and weather should be allowed to do the job until its restoration could be funded.

", a reference to an unsolved World War II-era mystery in which the decomposed body of a woman was found in a nearby wood.