Penshaw Monument
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Penshaw Monument is a folly built in 1844 on Penshaw Hill (pronounced locally as /'pɛn,ʃə/), in former County Durham (now part of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear), North East England, between the towns of Washington and Houghton-le-Spring. Penshaw Hill and the nearby Worm Hill are closely associated with one of North East England's best known folk tales, The Lambton Worm.
Built as a half-sized replica of the renowned Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, the monument dominates the local landscape. Penshaw Monument was designed by John and Benjamin Green based on the Doric order. It is dedicated to John George Lambton, first Earl of Durham and the first Governor of the Province of Canada.
The foundation stone was laid by the 2nd Earl of Zetland on 28 August 1844. One of the pillars contains a spiral staircase to a walkway around the top of the monument. This was closed to the public after a 15 year old boy, Temperley Arthur Scott, fell to his death on Easter Monday 1926.
It was acquired by the National Trust as a gift from the 5th Earl of Durham in 1939.
