Penshaw Monument
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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. It is dedicated to John George Lambton, first Earl of Durham and the first Governor of the Province of Canada.
The Monument stands 136 metres above sea level. 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 and built by Thomas Pratt of Sunderland, based on the Doric order. The Monument is the best preserved model of a Doric Hexastyle temple in Britain. The Marquess of Londonderry presented Penshaw Hill as a suitable site.
It is 100 feet (30 metres) long, 53 feet (16 metres) wide and 70 feet (20 metres) high. The columns are each 6 feet and 6 inches (2 metres) in diameter.
The foundation stone was laid by the Marquess of Zetland on 28 August 1844, four years after the death of the Earl.
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.
