A Monumental Challenge

We decided that we would see how many monuments we could visit within the North East in one day (we possibly could have done more).

Top Left :Penshaw Monument 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 George Lambton, first 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.

Top Right :Alnwick Castle is a castle and stately home in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the residence of the Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest, and renovated and remodeled a number of times. It is a Grade I listed building. The castle is used as a stand in for the exterior and interior of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films, Its appearance in the films has helped shape the public imagination regarding what castles should look like. Its condition contrasts with the vast majority of castles in the country which are ruinous and unfit for habitation. It has previously been a location used in Becket, Blackadder; Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and many others.

Bottom Left :The Angel of the North is a contemporary sculpture designed by Antony Gormley, which is located in Gateshead, England. It is a steel sculpture of an angel, standing 20 metres (66 ft) tall, with wings measuring 54 metres (177 ft) across. The wings themselves are not planar, but are angled 3.5º forward, which Gormley used to create "a sense of embrace".

Bottom Right :The Tenantry Column is a monument to the south of Alnwick town centre, in Northumberland, England. The Doric column is 83 feet (25 m) tall and topped by the Percy Lion, symbol of the Percy family. It was designed by the Newcastle architect David Stephenson and erected as thanks to the second Duke of Northumberland, by tenants of the Duke in 1816, following a reduction by the Duke in their rents. This is some 24 years before Nelson's Column was erected.

There endeth todays history lesson