Landmarks in the Warwickshire landscape
Warwickshire has more than its fair share of structures that have punctuated the skyline for centuries - ancient towers built to send fire signals, Georgian obelisks erected by landowners to be seen from their windows, a stunning windmill perched above the Fosse Way, and a stone on the edge of the county marking the meeting point of four shires. These are the landmarks that travellers navigated by, that photographers return to, and that give the Warwickshire landscape its particular character. All worth a visit.
The Beacon Tower, Burton Dasset Hills Country Park
Burton Dassett, near Fenny Compton
One of the oldest and most intriguing landmarks in the county, the 15th century Beacon Tower on the summit of Burton Dassett Hills is Grade II listed. It was likely built by Lord of the Manor Sir Edward Belknap in the late 15th century, though three theories about its original purpose survive: a beacon to pass fire signals to others across the landscape; a warrener's lodge, home to the man who protected local rabbit populations from poachers; or the base of a windmill. The mystery is part of the appeal. Restored in recent years following a significant conservation project, the tower still dominates the ridge and offers fantastic views across the Stratford-on-Avon District and south Warwickshire in every direction.
Free to visit - parking charges apply.
Chesterton Windmill
Near Harbury, south Warwickshire, CV33 9LB
An iconic landmark, Chesterton Windmill has stood on its hilltop overlooking the village of Chesterton since around 1632–33, built by Sir Edward Peyton, Lord of the Manor, likely with the involvement of John Stone - a pupil of Inigo Jones - who was in Chesterton at the time designing the new Manor House. Unlike any other windmill in England, its stone tower rises on semi-circular arches, as elegant and strange now as it must have seemed when it was built. The estate accounts at the Warwickshire County Record Office confirm it has always been a windmill, making it the earliest tower mill in England to retain any of its working parts. Grade I listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, it is one of only four windmills in England to hold that dual status. Four new sails were installed in April 2025, restoring the windmill to its full glory after years without them. Warwickshire County Council are its guardians and it opens to the public during Heritage Open Weekends.
A short walk from roadside parking on Windmill Hill Lane. Open internally during Heritage Open Weekends. Free to visit externally, year-round.
The Edge Hill Tower (The Castle Inn)
Edge Hill, near Ratley
Built in the 1740s by Sanderson Miller on his Radway Grange estate, this octagonal tower of glorious local Hornton ironstone stands on the Edge Hill escarpment and is now a pub, the Castle Inn. Miller - described by Our Warwickshire as the pioneer of the Rococo Gothic or Gothick style - designed it himself, modelling the octagonal form on Guy's Tower at Warwick Castle. It overlooks the landscape where the first battle of the English Civil War was fought in October 1642. From the escarpment beside it the views across the Warwickshire plain are enormous, and the tower has served as a navigational landmark across south Warwickshire for nearly three centuries.
Open as a pub. The escarpment and views are freely accessible.
The Umberslade Obelisk
Near Hockley Heath
Millions of people have glimpsed this without knowing what it is. The Umberslade Obelisk stands 70 feet tall in the former parkland of Umberslade Hall, just off the M40 near the M42 junction - slender, limestone and slightly mysterious. It was built in 1749 by Thomas Archer, 1st Baron Archer, to the design of local architect William Hiorne, and originally topped with a golden ball. Nobody recorded precisely why it was built, possibly, it may have been built to celebrate Archer's elevation to the peerage. Accessible on foot via Pound House Lane.
Free to visit externally.
The Farnborough Hall Obelisk
Farnborough Hall, near Banbury, Warwickshire, OX17 1DU
Part of the remarkable 18th century landscape at Farnborough Hall, designed by Sanderson Miller - the same Warwickshire gentleman-architect responsible for the Edge Hill Tower - and now in the care of the National Trust. The obelisk stands at the end of a mile-long terrace walk that unfolds through a Game Larder, an Ionic Temple and an Oval Pavilion before culminating in the obelisk itself, 18 metres tall and overlooking the Warmington Valley below. It is one of three obelisks erected in this part of the region in the mid-18th century - the others at Umberslade in Warwickshire and Wroxton Abbey just over the Oxfordshire border - all reflecting the Georgian fashion for dramatic eye-catchers in the landscape. The obelisk collapsed in 1823 and was rebuilt; its base is carved with names of Italian prisoners of war held here when Farnborough served as a military hospital during the Second World War. The terrace walk is one of the finest surviving examples of 18th century landscape design in England.
National Trust property - entry charges apply. Open April to September.
The Welcombe Hills Obelisk
Welcombe Hills, Stratford-upon-Avon
Rising 120 feet above the Welcombe Hills on the edge of Stratford-upon-Avon, this Victorian obelisk is visible for miles up and down the Avon valley. It was erected in 1876 by Robert Needham Philips in memory of his brother Mark Philips - one of Manchester's first MPs at Westminster and a significant figure in the establishment of free public libraries in Britain. It’s a short walk from the town centre.
Free to visit.
The Four Shire Stone
A44, near Moreton-in-Marsh - on the Warwickshire border
A pillar of honey-coloured Cotswold stone stands around 12 feet high at the point where Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire once met. Said to have inspired the Three-Farthing Stone in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings - there is something hobbit-ish and timeless about a stone marking the place where four great shires converge. Worcestershire's boundary was redrawn in 1931 so only three counties now meet here, but the stone still says four. A roadside stop off the A44 rather than a destination in itself, but absolutely worth a photograph on the way through.
Free to visit.
The Edstone Aqueduct
Near Bearley, between Henley-in-Arden and Stratford-upon-Avon
The longest cast iron aqueduct in England - 475 feet of prefabricated iron trough carried on thirteen brick piers, built between 1812 and 1816 to carry the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal above a road, a stream and what is now a railway line. What makes it particularly unusual is that the towpath runs at the level of the canal bottom rather than at water level - so walking across it, you look directly out across the Warwickshire countryside with boats passing at eye height and nothing but sky and fields beyond. There are no long views here in the traditional sense, but the linear prospect along the trough, with narrowboats appearing around the bend and the landscape spread below, is one of the most singular experiences in the county.
Free to visit. Parking at Salters Lane, Bearley.
Holly Well
Southam
On the western edge of Southam, a short walk from the town centre along the River Stowe, lies one of Warwickshire's most ancient and easily overlooked curiosities. The Holy Well has been recorded since 998 AD - the same year Southam was first mentioned in a charter of King Ethelred - and is both a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade II listed. The spring feeds three small stone basins before flowing into the River Stowe, and the water was long held to have healing properties, particularly for eye conditions. The well is connected by legend to St Fremund - reputedly a relative of King Offa of Mercia - who, according to Our Warwickshire, carried his severed head from the battlefield at Radford Semele and washed in the well before dying here. The surrounding stonework dates from the late 18th or 19th century, with further restoration in the 20th century, and the well-kept paths form part of a pleasant circular walk from the town. A take-away guide to the walk is available from Southam Library. Free to visit.
The Rollright Stones
Rollright Road, on the Warwickshire/Oxfordshire border, near Long Compton
On a limestone ridge above Long Compton, where the Cotswold scarp forms the southern boundary of Warwickshire, three prehistoric monuments stand within a few hundred metres of each other - built across different millennia for different purposes, yet drawing people to the same stretch of ground since at least 3,800 BC. The Whispering Knights are a burial dolmen from around 3,800 BC; the King's Men, a tight circle of around seventy limestone uprights from the remains of what was once over a hundred stones, dates to around 2,500 BC; the solitary King Stone is a Bronze Age standing stone from around 1,500 BC. The ground continued to matter long after: an Iron Age settlement lies immediately to the north and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery nearby. One of the original 29 monuments protected under the 1882 Ancient Monuments Act, the stones carry as much folklore as archaeology - tradition holds that the King's Men cannot be counted twice to the same number, and that those who manage it three times in a row will have a wish granted. Managed by the Rollright Trust, open year-round including after dark as a designated Dark Skies Discovery Site.
A small admission charge applies.