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Photo:- Bruce St John of California USA.

Sat high on the beautiful Penshaw Hill just outside of Sunderland and Washington and within half an hour drive from Newcastle you will find a Greek temple. In actual fact this is a half size version of the original on which it was based, that being the Temple of Theseus in Athens.
It was erected in 1844 to the memory of the First Earl of Durham, John George Lambton, who had died in 1840.


Statesman:-
The Earl was a noted politician and statesman of his time, being largely responsible for the Reform Act of 1832 that laid the foundation for our voting system that we use today. He also found time to be Ambassador to Russia for three years before ending up as Governor General of Canada, a post he later resigned from.

The Temple:-
The grade 2 listed monument is approximately 100 foot long by 50 foot wide and rises 70 feet into the Durham skyline, its designers being John and Benjamin Green from Newcastle, whilst the builder was Thomas Pratt of Sunderland.
By coincidence Benjamin Green also designed the 135 foot tall Earl Grey column in Newcastle, which has a sculpture of Earl Grey sat at the top, Earl Grey was the Prime Minister who passed the above mentioned Reform Bill.
It was possible at one time to ascend a spiral staircase that wound its way up the inside one of the Greek Doric style columns to the parapet, but this is no longer the case unfortunately.

Photo:- Bruce St John of California USA.

The temple was erected as an elegant memorial in 1844, 4 years after the death of the Earl, by the Freemasons of the area, as the Earl held the post of Grand Master of the Order of Freemasons. The temple stands incongruously on the hill almost in the middle of a triple rampart Iron Age hill fort.
The ramparts of the hill fort are still visible and give rise to the local legend of the Lampton Worm, see   for an explanation.

Photo:- from a contributor.

The view from the monument. The floodlights that illuminate the structure at night can clearly be seen in the foreground.

Co-Ords: 433400 554380 / NZ 334543  

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