Umberslade Obelisk

[1] 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".

[6][7] 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.

[8] 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, was invited to the hall specifically to view the obelisk from its windows.

[11][2] The 70 ft (21 m) obelisk sits atop a two-tier stepped square plinth with a moulded cornice on the upper tier.

[11] 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 M40 motorway in the late 1980s.