The history of Penshaw Monument

Penshaw monument. Image courtesy of Walt Jabsco through creative commons.

Penshaw Monument is a folly that was built in 1844 and is dedicated to John Lambton,  the first Earl of Durham. It stands on Penshaw Hill between the two Sunderland districts of Washington and Houghten le-Spring. The correct title of the structure is The Earl of Durham’s Monument but it is better know to local people as Penshaw Monument.

Penshaw Monument by night. Image courtesy of Old System through creative commons.

The monument’s more commonly known name of “Penshaw” derives from a mixture of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon words. Pen is a Brythonic or Cumbric word for hill, as in the name Penrith, and shaw is derived from sceaga meaning “wooded area”; and finally the Old/Middle/Modern English word “hill”. The name thus means “wooded-hill hill”.

The  70 foot high folly is a replica of the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens and can be seen for miles around. It is considered to be the most beloved landmark for Wear-siders  and it appears on the badge of Sunderland Football Club.

The monument stands at 20 meters high, 30 meters long and 16 metres wide. Each of the columns have a 2 meter diameter. The monument was designed by John and Benjamin Green  and built by Thomas Pratt of Sunderland, it was built in a Doric order which was one of the three systems used in ancient Greek architecture.

Penshaw Monument. Image courtesy of Peter Mulligan through creative commons.

The foundation stone was laid by Thomas Dundas, the 2nd Earl of Zetland, on 28th August 1844. This was four years after the death of John Lambton. The folly is made of gritstone from the Marquess of Londonderry’s quarries on the east coast. The stone blocks are held together with steel pins and brackets.

In 1926 on Easter Monday a 15-yea-old boy named Temperley Arthur Scott fell to his death from the top of the monument. He was with three friends when it happened and 20 others witnessed the accident. They had reached the roof via the staircase and had done two circuits round the roof but on the third Scott moved to avoid a visitor and fell from an area with no protective wall. After this incident it was decided that the monument staircase would be shut to the public.

Penshaw folly remained closed to the public up until 29th August 2011 when a special National Trust opening granted access for the public.  This was a test to see if the monument should open on future one-off days. It was so popular that more than 2000 people turned up, however not all of them were able to go to the top of the monument but were asked to give contact details in order to be given priority on the next open day.

National Trust Stone. Image courtesy of Jacqui through creative commons.

Visitors have the opportunity to use the hidden staircase which is in one of the pillars in order to enjoy the views from the top of the monument. This is usually done on weekends at a cost of £5 per person between Good Friday until the end of September; all funds being used for the upkeep of the monument.

As we are now nearing Easter and the folly is soon to be open to the public I would certainly recommend a visit.

Penshaw Monument

History of the Wearmouth Bridge

Wearmouth Bridge. Image courtesy of Niall Ritchie.

The Wearmouth Bridge is a through arch bridge that crosses the River Wear in Sunderland and is the last bridge before the River Wear’s mouth opens up into the North Sea.

The first bridge opened on this site in 1796 and since then has been reconstructed twice.

This is the transcription of the engraving on the original Wearmouth Bridge when it opened in 1796. Image courtesy of Sunderland Public Libraries through creative commons.

The first bridge 1796 – 1929.

This is an illustration of the original bridge during its first year. Image courtesy of Sunderland Public Libraries through creative  commons.

The first Wearmouth Bridge was opened in 1796. The foundation stone was laid in September 1793. This was sponsored by the MP Rowland Burdon. The bridge was designed by Thomas Paine following a similar build in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA.

A Plaque on the side of the current bridge says its construction has “proved to be a catalyst for the growth of Sunderland” since it was opened.

Bridge Plaque. Image courtesy of Pimlico Badger through creative commons.

To gain access between Monkwearmouth and Bishopwearmouth previous to the bridge being built meant you had to get a ferry from one side to the other. As the nearest bridge was at Chester-le-Street. The bridge did initially have a toll for pedestrians but this was abolished in 1846.

This document shows the amount of people using the bridge and how much they paid to cross in 1830. Image courtesy of Sunderland Public Libraries through creative commons.

Song sung about abolition of the bridge foot toll. Image courtesy of Sunderland Public Libraries through creative commons.

The Wearmouth Bridge was the second iron made bridge built after the Ironbridge that crosses the River Severn in Shropshire.  The bridge  was over twice as long as the Ironbridge with a nominal span of 240 feet, and only three-quarters the weight. At the time of the bridge being built it was the biggest single span bridge in the world at 72 m. The bridge was opened to traffic on 9 August, 1796 having cost a total of £28,000 to build.

This financial statement details the cost of the original bridge across the river and highlight the massive amount of resources that went into it. Image courtesy of Sunderland Public Libraries through creative commons.

Picture of Micheal Smith. Image and story below courtesy of Sunderland Public Libraries through creative commons.

In 1842 Micheal Smith, a American living in Sunderland, jumped off the Wearmouth Bridge for money, he amazingly survived and swam to the riverbank. The crowds who watched started giving him money as a reward and as a result of this the Police arrested him for begging.

A folk song about Micheal Smith who jumped off the Wearmouth Bridge in 1842. Image courtesy of Sunderland Public Libraries through creative commons.

1805 repair and 1857 reconstruction.

In 1805 the bridge had to be repaired due to heat from the sun causing some of the cross tubes to fall out.

In 1857 up until 1859 the bridge was reconstructed by Robert Stephenson son of George Stephenson the famous locomotive builder and railway engineer.

Statue of Robert Stephenson outside London Euston Station. Image courtesy of martin_vmorris through creative commons.

The bridge was stripped back to its six iron ribs and levelled the hump in the middle by raising the abutments. The bridge was then opened again in March 1859. The toll was then completely abolished in 1885.

The current bridge 1929 – current.

With larger volumes of traffic using the bridge construction began in 1927 to widen it. It was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson and fabricated by the famous bridge building firm Sir William Arrol & Co in Glasgow ; who also built the Tower Bridge in London as well as the Forth Rail Bridge. The new bridge was built around the old one allowing the bridge to stay open.  It was then re-opened on 31 October 1929 by the Duke of York (who would later become King George VI).

The cost of the current bridge amounted to £231,943 of which £12,000 was spent on dismantling the old bridge. This meant the building of the new Wearmouth Bridge cost £203,948 more than it did initially in 1796.

Logo of Sir William Arrol & Co Ltd on the side of a cane. Image courtesy of Diego Iaconelli through creative commons.

The adjoining railway bridge was built in 1879 on the west side of the bridge and extended the railway south from Monkwearmouth to the centre of Sunderland.

Wearmouth Bridge. Image courtesy of Dan Mullen through creative commons.

Wearmouth Bridge from the South end of the bridge. Image courtesy of Niall Ritchie.

 

Wearmouth Bridge

The history of St Peter’s Church and Monkwearmouth Monastery.

St Peter’s Church & The Monkwerearmouth-Jarrow Monastery. Image courtesy of iknow-uk through creative commons .

St Peter’s Church in Monkwearmouth was built in 674 AD  by Benedict Biscop and is one of the oldest churches in Britain, where Christians have gathered for more than 1300 years. This is a place of worship and prayer, pilgrimage and mission.

Benedict Biscop was born in 628 AD and  was originally named Biscop Baducing, but after entering religious life he adopted the name Benedict.

At the age of 25 Benedict set out on a pilgramage to Rome where he learnt about Roman Christianity. After returning from Rome Benedict set about encouraging people to follow the religion that he had learnt about whilst on his travels.

During this time many people in  Northumbria followed an Irish form of Christianity. However, following Biscop’s encouragement to the local people to follow the Roman Christian faith meant it became more and popular. It became so influential that in 664 AD  King
Oswiu, at the Synod of Whitby (A gathering of the church council at Whitby Abbey), decided that the kingdom of Northumbria would follow Roman and not Irish religious practices.

Whitby Abbey where the Synod of Whitby occurred. Image courtesy of Ambersky235 through creative commons.

By 666AD Biscop had travelled to Rome again though on this occasion he travelled through France and took monastic vows at the Monastery of Lérins where he spent the next two years.

Following further visits to Rome Benedict returned home to Northumbria in 673 AD where he was keen to build a monastery. King Oswiu’s successor granted Benedict 70 hides of land near the River Wear (now known as Monkwearmouth) on which he built the Monastery of St. Peter.

St. Peters Church 1891. Image courtesy of Sunderland Public Libraries through creative commons.

St.Peters  Church features an Anglo-Saxon porch and tower, (as can be seen in the picture above) its other  features include unique carved stones, some of which include intertwined serpents, the consecration cross, ancient burial stones and early glass fragments and stones which date back to Roman times. An outline of the excavated Anglo-Saxon monastic building is in place in the grounds.

St. Peters view from the nave. Image courtesy of Colin through creative commons

At St Peter’s Church visitors can be transported back to the seventh century and learn about the different cultures of that period and learn from its features about the development of Christianity in the Anglo Saxon period. You can also follow a map of the grounds and find out how the landscape and buildings have changed over time.

Carved stone at the entrance of St. Peters with the date it was built 674 AD. Image courtesy of Niall Ritchie.

World Heritage Site. Image courtesy of Niall Ritchie.

Reasons to visit:

• One of the UK’s first stone built churches.
• Archaeological remains from the 7th Century.
• See original Anglo-Saxon features.
• World Heritage Site. (As shown in image above).

St Peter’s Church