In memory

This is the Countess Pillar beside the A66, just before Penrith. I pass it every time I go to Penrith and have always known it was there and what it was, but I have never been to see it. Today, as I have been referring to Lady Anne Clifford over the last few days, I thought we would go. 

The Countess Pillar marks the place where Lady Anne Clifford bade farewell to her mother Margaret on 2nd April 1616, near to what was then the gateway to Brougham Castle. Soon afterwards Margaret died and in her memory Lady Anne erected this pillar in 1656. She had to wait until then, as it was only in 1643 that she gained possession of the family estates and castles, including Brougham Castle. 

There is an inscription describing the wishes of Lady Anne for money to be given to the poor of the parish in remembrance of her mother. A flat stone (seen in the extra picture) is where these alms were distributed on the anniversary of their final meeting. There is a suggestion that this still happens, but I don’t know whether this is true. Why there are coins on the stone I don’t know either. 

There is a pathway leading to the pillar from the Brougham road, a pathway that traces the old road before the A66 was built.