Penshaw Monument

Penshaw Monument
Penshaw Monument, from Herrington Country Park
Location within Tyne and Wear
Alternative names	The Earl of Durham's Monument
General information
Type	Folly
Architectural style	Doric tetrastyle
Town or city	Penshaw, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
Country	England
Coordinates	54°52′59″N 1°28′52″W / 54.883°N 1.481°W / 54.883; -1.481
Elevation	136 m (446 ft)
Construction started	28 August 1844
Renovated	1978–1979
Cost	£6,000
Client	Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry
Owner	National Trust
Management	National Trust
Height	20 m (66 ft)
Design and construction
Architect	John and Benjamin Green
Engineer	Thomas Pratt, Sunderland

Penshaw Monument (/ˈpɛnʃə/), officially The Earl of Durham's Monument, is a folly built in 1844 on Penshaw Hill between the districts of Washington and Houghton-le-Spring, within the City of Sunderland, North East England. It is dedicated to John Lambton (1792–1840), 1st Earl of Durham and the first Governor of the Province of Canada.

The 136-metre (446 ft) hill on which the monument stands was presented by Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. The monument dominates the local landscape as a half-sized replica of the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens. It is floodlit at night.

Although often called "Penshaw Monument", the correct title of the structure is The Earl of Durham's Monument.

The monument stands on Penshaw Hill, the name of which is derived from a mixture of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon words. is a Brythonic or Cumbric word for hill, as in the name Penrith; is derived from meaning "wooded area"; and finally the Old/Middle/Modern English word "hill". The name thus means "wooded-hill hill".