The building of the castle (and another folly called the rotunda), was started in 1747 while Sir Thomas Lyttelton was still alive (he died in 1751) so he was not opposed to the modernisation of his park with suitable fashionable ornamental follies, but the credit for its creation is usually given to his son and heir Gorge Lyttelton (the future 1st Lord Lyttelton).
Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 1st Baronet (1593 – 22 February 1650) was the eldest son of John Lyttelton and inherited the family estates in Frankley, Halesowen, Hagley, and Upper Arley from his mother, Meriel, the daughter of Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Chancellor of England.
The obelisk was commissioned by Sir Richard Lyttelton, a son of the elderly Sir Thomas Lyttelton, the owner of the nearby Hagley Hall.
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