Depending upon the relative sizes of the parameters of the problem, rotating flow of a vertically confined fluid past an asymmetric object—in this case a circular cylinder with top sliced at an angle—may induce flow inside the Taylor column, driven by the viscous stresses in the column wall. The motion is along the constant‐depth contours, which are not closed in such a situation. We show from theoretical considerations that so long as the angle of the slice is bigger than the one‐quarter power of the Ekman number,E, such an interior motion in the column does occur. In general, the motion consists of two eddies over the obstacle. A series of case study laboratory experiments is presented in support of the analysis, to show the effect of the slice orientation and magnitude on the flow over such a bump, and to illustrate the nature of the flows which are generated when inertial effects are dominant. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.