Obelisk

Parks and Gardens Historical aspects of garden design through the ages Obelisk

Obelisk

Obelisk in Ayscoughfee Hall gardens (Image: Steffie Shields)

Owners increasingly sought to add meaning to their gardens. The obelisk is typical of iconography often seen in early 18C gardens It is also an important object in Freemasonry.

Astronomically it represents the Sun; esoterically it represents the Egyptian solar deity Ra.

An obelisk in Ayscoughfee Hall gardens (HE Grade II) where lawyer Maurice Johnston (1688-1755), a founder of Spalding Gentlemen’s Society, and great friend of Stukeley, developed the gardens with iconography. The great yew hedges (Taxus baccata) probably date from this period.

 

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