Obelisk and enclosing railings approximately 200m southeast of Rotunda in Black Fen Pleasure Grounds is a Grade II* listed building in the Leeds local planning authority area, England. First listed on 1 May 1960. Monument.
Obelisk and enclosing railings approximately 200m southeast of Rotunda in Black Fen Pleasure Grounds
- WRENN ID
- ragged-footing-elm
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Leeds
- Constituency
- Wetherby and Easingwold MP: Sir Alec Shelbrooke (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 1 May 1960
- Type
- Monument
- OS grid reference
- SE 414 406
- Coordinates
- 53.86048, -1.37097
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The obelisk and enclosing railings, located approximately 200 meters southeast of the Rotunda in Black Fen Pleasure Grounds, were built between 1768 and 1772 by John Carr for George Fox-Lane, the second Lord Bingley, as a memorial to his son Robert Fox-Lane. The structure is made of excellently-worked ashlar and features cast-iron railings.
The tall obelisk is square in plan and has a base adorned with white marble tablets on three faces, along with a carved stone coat-of-arms on the east face. Each tablet is set in a square frame with a fluted border. The inscriptions on the tablets honor Robert Fox-Lane, noting that the obelisk was erected by his parents, George Fox-Lane and Harriet Benson. The north tablet includes the date of Robert's death, May 28, 1768, when he was 30 years old.
The obelisk is topped with a bold cyma-and-casement-moulded cornice and a tall, slightly-tapering shaft that is surmounted by a giant urn. The surrounding enclosure consists of a low ashlar wall topped with cast-iron railings, which feature simple square rods, a top rail, flame-twist finials, and circular columns with ball finials at the corners. This monument is part of a formal garden layout, from which ten avenues radiate outwards.
Local climate
Obelisk and enclosing railings approximately 200m southeast of Rotunda in Black Fen Pleasure Grounds receives an average of 760 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 65% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 91% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 40 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 78% of listed buildings. Of these, 20 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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