No this is'nt Greece Its Newcastle!Penshaw monument was built in 1844 on the hill of Penshaw in memory of the first earl of Durham. It was based on the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens the one seen on Jason and the Argonourts. It is 100 feet long and 73 feet wide, each column is 6 feet in diameter. The monument features on Sunderland afc s Football badge and is also said to be the place of the lambton worm. I find this piece interesting probably for the wrong reasons, I appreciate the structure and that it looks impressive but like I said this isn' t Greece!! Whats funny about this design is that if you ve ever travelled up the A1/M1 to Newcastle and turned up the A19 to head into Newcastle you ll probably see this and to put it simply it looks out of place, Architecturally its fantastic, it even has an engraved staircase all the way round the pillars that lead to the top for you to walk around, but looking at it, you have a symbolic Greek Structure on a hill surrounded by bright red brick housing, 3 Industrial estates one of which produces huge amounts of steam 24/7 and a huge fast pace constantly busy motorway?? Now to me just talking about this makes me smile, Architecturally this has no symbolic reference to the North at all I could understand if it was a Monument of stature based on our mining in the old days or our ship yards, but its based on a Greek gods temple. I guess for me in my opinion this is Architecturally designed well but Architecturally placed wrong.
1 comment:
It is not categorized as a "Folly" for nothing, my friend. Believe me, folks on Wearside love it. When you see it from the roads or trains you describe, you know you are back in God's country. This from a mackem who now lives in So. California.
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