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Can I pinch this?
My clematis "Bagatelle" (Dorothy Walton) has already reached the top of the obelisk it's growing up. Should I pinch out just the tops or take it back lower down the plant.
It's a new one I planted this spring and I want to look after this one properly.
I've been a bit neglectful of my old "comtesse de bouchard", forgot to prune it last year and mostly left it to it's own devices and it became far too overgrown. 
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Bagatelle gets to 3 to 4 metres in height so I think that obelisk is too small and you should think about a different support for next year as clematis tend to produce more and more stems each year as they mature and it will just get too crowded.
Rather than pinching yours out, see if you can detach the stems and retrain them round the obelisk as horizontally as possible and continue regular training as it grows. This way you will encourage branching stems and more flowers.
Thanks for replying obelixx. I didn't realise it would grow so large, the label indicated 200 cm high. I may have to re-home this variety as I only have a small garden with 6ft high fence panels. I can't see how I could accommodate 3 to 4 metres high of growth.
The really helpful label
Yesterday I bought another, a "ville de lyon". I just get tempted by the picture on the label rather than thinking where I can plant it.
A 6' high fence is plenty high enough for big clematis. The trick is to stretch plant wires across it at 12 to 18 inch intervals and train the clematis stems to them horizontally. They will send out extra shoots that make for more flowers and can grow as long as they like without passing the height of the fence.
Ville de Lyon will grow between 2.5 to 5 metres so will need training to its allotted space. I suggest you have a good browse around this site - http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/ - which lets you look up clematis before you buy them and also lets you search for clematis by size, colour, flowering period, aspect etc.
Next time you're tempted, check for clematis in the Boulevard range by Evison. They are bred for growing in pots which means they can grow in smaller spaces and won't get too big and are usually group 3 for pruning which means they get cut back to 6" high every March and then grow again and flower. Your obleisk would be perfect for one of those.
Thank you, thank you, thank you obelixx for some really helpful advice.
I don't go online in the evening (busy with family) and was feeling a bit miffed that I didn't have the space for more clematis, I log on this morning and hey presto you have kindly added some great suggestions to help me out.
The website you linked was very good and will be very helpful to check it out before I buy in future. I'm inspired to carry on growing vertically as I have limited ground space in my garden.
The only way is up, Kitty