Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Answer to a curious mystery of mine for many years....finally got round to tracking it down ...
So, you are driving up the M40….coming back from David Cameron's pad in Witney (yes, tea was nice and the pineapple chunks delicious)) and just before you turn right at the M42 Junction for Brum….on your right, you will see a tall obelisk on a hill….a sort of slimmer version of Cleopatra's Needle. The map shows it in a field in Pound House Lane...the photo is by a D3Ron on Flikr...and is stunning...
The exact reason for the erection of this obelisk is unknown as no documentary records survive. The obelisk is in alignment with the East front of Umberslade Park (built in 1695-1700 for Andrew Archer) at the edge of the former 300 acre landscaped park. The obelisk is now separated from the Umberslade Park by the M40.
The Archers came to Britain with William the Conqueror (after 1066) and settled at Umberslade during the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), the first family member to live at Umberslade being Robert Sagittarius (or Robert the Archer).
The obelisk was erected for Thomas Archer, then owner of Umberslade Park, in 1749. It has been suggested that the obelisk is connected with his interest in astronomy. However it is most likely that it was erected to commemorate Thomas Archer's ascension to the peerage, he became the 1st Lord Archer, Baron Umberslade in 1747. It has also been suggested that the obelisk commemorates the defeat of the Jacobites, or the Peace of Aix la Chapelle. It was criticised by William Shenstone for appearing too short. There's always one isn't there...?
Anyroadup Lord Archer died in 1768 aged 73. The last Lady Archer died in 1801 and the house remained empty until Umberslade Park was bought by Edward King in 1826. The obelisk is the sole surviving structure from archer's landscape improvements.
In 1850 the land was leased by George Frederic Muntz, Member of Parliament for Birmingham. After his death in 1857 his son George Frederick bought the estate and much enlarged and improved the Hall. During this time Muntz junior had a church built on the estate, Umberslade Baptist Church, which exists to this day separately to the Hall.
In 1881 the household comprised thirty including thirteen resident servants. Frederick Ernest Muntz who succeeded to the estate in 1898 served as High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1902 and as Deputy Lieutenant. The estate, much reduced, remains in the ownership of the Muntz family.
From the 1960s the Hall was leased out to commercial tenants including from 1967-1972 BSA-Triumph Motorcycles (for their research & development department). BSA -Triumph staff critical of the work produced there nicknamed the facility 'Slumberglade Hall'. In 1978 it was converted into twelve apartments and two mews cottages, and there are lots of lovely photos and history stuff also to be seen on wiki images.......enjoy...I did...
Now of course, we also know that St Philip's Church was designed by Thomas Archer and built between 1711 and 1725. It is one of only a few churches in the English baroque style and one of the smallest cathedrals in England. Archer had visited the great cities of Europe as a young man, and was one of a small number of architects who interpreted the baroque in an English setting. Construction started in 1709 and the church was consecrated in 1715, although lack of funding meant that the tower was unfinished. The church was built in locally-made brick and faced with calcareous limestone from the Archer family's own Rowington quarries on their Umberslade estate. It is thought that much of the timber also came from the Archer estates.
End of....I think.....?
So, you are driving up the M40….coming back from David Cameron's pad in Witney (yes, tea was nice and the pineapple chunks delicious)) and just before you turn right at the M42 Junction for Brum….on your right, you will see a tall obelisk on a hill….a sort of slimmer version of Cleopatra's Needle. The map shows it in a field in Pound House Lane...the photo is by a D3Ron on Flikr...and is stunning...
The exact reason for the erection of this obelisk is unknown as no documentary records survive. The obelisk is in alignment with the East front of Umberslade Park (built in 1695-1700 for Andrew Archer) at the edge of the former 300 acre landscaped park. The obelisk is now separated from the Umberslade Park by the M40.
The Archers came to Britain with William the Conqueror (after 1066) and settled at Umberslade during the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), the first family member to live at Umberslade being Robert Sagittarius (or Robert the Archer).
The obelisk was erected for Thomas Archer, then owner of Umberslade Park, in 1749. It has been suggested that the obelisk is connected with his interest in astronomy. However it is most likely that it was erected to commemorate Thomas Archer's ascension to the peerage, he became the 1st Lord Archer, Baron Umberslade in 1747. It has also been suggested that the obelisk commemorates the defeat of the Jacobites, or the Peace of Aix la Chapelle. It was criticised by William Shenstone for appearing too short. There's always one isn't there...?
Anyroadup Lord Archer died in 1768 aged 73. The last Lady Archer died in 1801 and the house remained empty until Umberslade Park was bought by Edward King in 1826. The obelisk is the sole surviving structure from archer's landscape improvements.
In 1850 the land was leased by George Frederic Muntz, Member of Parliament for Birmingham. After his death in 1857 his son George Frederick bought the estate and much enlarged and improved the Hall. During this time Muntz junior had a church built on the estate, Umberslade Baptist Church, which exists to this day separately to the Hall.
In 1881 the household comprised thirty including thirteen resident servants. Frederick Ernest Muntz who succeeded to the estate in 1898 served as High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1902 and as Deputy Lieutenant. The estate, much reduced, remains in the ownership of the Muntz family.
From the 1960s the Hall was leased out to commercial tenants including from 1967-1972 BSA-Triumph Motorcycles (for their research & development department). BSA -Triumph staff critical of the work produced there nicknamed the facility 'Slumberglade Hall'. In 1978 it was converted into twelve apartments and two mews cottages, and there are lots of lovely photos and history stuff also to be seen on wiki images.......enjoy...I did...
Now of course, we also know that St Philip's Church was designed by Thomas Archer and built between 1711 and 1725. It is one of only a few churches in the English baroque style and one of the smallest cathedrals in England. Archer had visited the great cities of Europe as a young man, and was one of a small number of architects who interpreted the baroque in an English setting. Construction started in 1709 and the church was consecrated in 1715, although lack of funding meant that the tower was unfinished. The church was built in locally-made brick and faced with calcareous limestone from the Archer family's own Rowington quarries on their Umberslade estate. It is thought that much of the timber also came from the Archer estates.
End of....I think.....?
