S t o u r h e a d

T h e   O b e l i s k

Fir walk is a wide grassy ridge high above the gardens, leading off from a terrace at the rear of Stourhead House. In 1746 - 1748 Henry Hoare had an obelisk made from Chilmark stone erected here within view of his house, as a grand memorial to his late father.

It is thought to have been built by Francis Cartwright or William Privet. But during the remainder of Henry's life, the obelisk gradually fell into decay, and in 1839 this replacement was built on the same spot.

At the base of the monument is a tablet Richard Hoare added to the original obelisk in 1815 to the memory of Henry.

This a particularly fine example of an obelisk. It is a slender, four sided shaft of perfectly fashioned Bath stone. It smoothly tapers some 100 ft to a copper sun god that proudly surmounts it. Henry Hoare requested it be positioned at the highest point on Fir Walk. This would allow it to be made clearly visible from most areas of his garden, rising high above the tree lines.

The sun god or 'myth ra' symbolises continuity, immortality, power and resurrection.

An essential lightning conductor runs down one side of the obelisk, the stone is marked top to bottom from lightning strikes.

             

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