The Needle's Eye
There are numerous follies on the Wentworth Woodhouse estate and the Needle’s Eye is one of the best known and probably the oldest. The Needle’s Eye is a 14m high pyramid shaped obelisk topped with an urn and arch (‘the eye’) running through its base. It is located 1 km north of Wentworth Woodhouse in Lee Wood and at the highest point of an old road that ran from the Lion (Rainborough) Lodge on the northern boundary of the estate. That road no longer exists but its alignment is easily seen when looking north to the Lion Lodge. The vista to the south of Wentworth Woodhouse no longer exists because of the trees nearer the house.
Legend has it that the Needle’s Eye was built by the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth, to satisfy a wager that he could drive a “horse and carriage through the eye of a needle” circa 1780. A nice story but unlikely to be true though.
Charles’ father Thomas Watson-Wentworth the 1st Marquess of Rockingham listed a “building of an obelisk in Lee Wood in his summary of activity between 1722 and 1733. There is an engraving of an obelisk in Lee Wood dated 1728 and reference on a plan of the estate dated 1730. So, in all probability the Needle’s Eye was built between 1722 and 1730 and possibly before the 2nd Marquess was born.
A further curio is that there are small round holes on the eastern side of the obelisk, and these are thought to be from musket balls. There is an unsubstantiated rumour of a firing squad involving Jacobite rebels.
With no accurate record of when, why and who built it the Needles Eye remains on of the most enigmatic follies on the estate.
The Needle's Eye
There are numerous follies on the Wentworth Woodhouse estate and the Needle’s Eye is one of the best known and probably the oldest. The Needle’s Eye is a 14m high pyramid shaped obelisk topped with an urn and arch (‘the eye’) running through its base. It is located 1 km north of Wentworth Woodhouse in Lee Wood and at the highest point of an old road that ran from the Lion (Rainborough) Lodge on the northern boundary of the estate. That road no longer exists but its alignment is easily seen when looking north to the Lion Lodge. The vista to the south of Wentworth Woodhouse no longer exists because of the trees nearer the house.
Legend has it that the Needle’s Eye was built by the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth, to satisfy a wager that he could drive a “horse and carriage through the eye of a needle” circa 1780. A nice story but unlikely to be true though.
Charles’ father Thomas Watson-Wentworth the 1st Marquess of Rockingham listed a “building of an obelisk in Lee Wood in his summary of activity between 1722 and 1733. There is an engraving of an obelisk in Lee Wood dated 1728 and reference on a plan of the estate dated 1730. So, in all probability the Needle’s Eye was built between 1722 and 1730 and possibly before the 2nd Marquess was born.
A further curio is that there are small round holes on the eastern side of the obelisk, and these are thought to be from musket balls. There is an unsubstantiated rumour of a firing squad involving Jacobite rebels.
With no accurate record of when, why and who built it the Needles Eye remains on of the most enigmatic follies on the estate.