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FABULOUS FOLLIES
...and Landscape Curiosities

Durham (Contd...)

MORTON PALMS                                                  NZ 326 154

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Train

Designed by David March, the brick Train is based on the steam train, Mallard, and commemorates the world's first railway service between Stockton and Darlington.

Darlington Borough Council, Morrisons Supermarket and Lottery funding financed the building of the 120 feet long train that used 185,000 bricks and cost £750,000.


PENSHAW                                                                    NZ 334 543

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Picture
Penshaw Monument

The Earl of Durham's Monument at Penshaw was designed by John and Benjamin Green, who were father and son architects from Newcastle. The builder was Thomas Pratt of Sunderland.
It was erected in 1844 as a memorial to John George Lampton, 1st Earl of Durham and Governor of Canada, after his death in 1840.

The diminutive figure of my wife in the bottom left of the picture gives a clue to the size of the temple. The Doric temple is a half-size version of the Temple of Hephaestus (also known as Theseus) in Athens, and has four rows of seven columns. The Theseian Temple has six rows of 13 columns.

There is a staircase inside one of the columns that leads to a roofless parapet walkway. In 1996, the National Trust spent over £100,000 in restoration
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PIERCEBRIDGE                                                      NZ 211 156

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Tower

A charming little tower, just over the bridge into County Durham, is in the corner of a private garden.

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RABY WITH KEVERSTONE

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Cottage












Date taken: 31/07/2012

RABY WITH KEVERSTONE

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Raby Castle garden seat












Date taken: 13/08/2008

RABY WITH KEVERSTONE                                 NZ 132 220

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Raby Castle North Lodges

The Gothic style entrance to Raby Castle was designed by John Carr.









​Date taken: 31/07/2008

RABY WITH KEVERSTONE                                NZ 127 220

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Gothic Cottage

The Gothic Cottage in the garden of Raby Castle was designed by James Paine.

One the many buildings that James Paine designed is The Chapel at Bramham Park, West Riding






​Date taken: 31/07/2008

RABY WITH KEVERSTONE                                NZ 125 217

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Gothic Temple

The Gothick Seat near to Raby Castle was designed by Daniel Garrett.









​Date taken: 13/08/2008

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​Date taken: 31/07/2008

SHOTLEY BRIDGE                                                 NZ 091 536

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Spa Well

The Spa Well was made by Jonathan Richardson in 1837 at the spring that was called 'Hally Well'. It is said that the Spa Well was visited by Charles Dickens.

Near to the river, there is still a small building that was near to the well, at the side of the cricket pitch at Shotley Bridge Cricket Ground.


SPENNYMOOR                                                        NZ 236 347

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Gothic ruin

There is a mock ruin in a lake in the grounds of Whitworth Hall.







Date taken: 26/09/2003

SPENNYMOOR                                                           NZ 236 347

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​Whitworth Hall Bridge










Date taken: 26/09/2003

SPENNYMOOR                                                        NZ 237 347

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Mercury Column

The statue of Mercury in Whitworth Park, was bought from a school in Sunderland in the early 1980s. It had a plaque in memory of a soldier who was killed in the Boer War, but this has been removed.





Date taken: 26/09/2003

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​Date taken: 26/09/2003

SPENNYMOOR                                                       NZ 236 348

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Whitworth Hall Tower

The Shafton family purchased Whitworth in 1652; they were later known as Shafto. Robert Duncombe Shafto was an 18th century dandy who used the ballad 'Bonny Bobby Shafto' as an electioneering song and became a Member of Parliament.



















Date taken: 26/09/2003

STANHOPE

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Fossil tree

The Fossil Tree was moved from Edmundbyers Cross and brought to Stanhope by J G Beaston in 1962.


Other fossil trees can be seen at;
Botanical Gardens, SHEFFIELD, West Riding
WORTLEY, West Riding





​Date taken: 18/06/2009

STANHOPE                                                             NY 995 393

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Gazebo


In the garden across the road from the mock Stanhope Castle is a gazebo built in a similar Gothic style; also having a pierced stone first-floor balcony and a battlemented parapet.


















Date taken: 18/06/2009

SEDGEFIELD

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The Bono Retiro

The Bono Retiro at Hardwick Park was a Gothic styled place of pleasant retreat for selected guests only. It contained a library and busts of Francis Bacon, John Locke, Marcus Aurelius, Robert Boyle and Marcus Cicero.







​Date taken: 14/09/2008

SEDGEFIELD

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​   Neptune 












 
Date taken: 07/09/2012

SEDGEFIELD                                                         NZ 344 294

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Gothic Seat

The Gothic Seat overlooks the lake in Hardwick Park. It is thought that the three arches were inspired by William Kent's choir screen at Gloucester Cathedral.







Date taken: 14/09/2008

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Picture

SEDGEFIELD                                                          NZ 346 288

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Hardwick Gothic Ruined Gateway

The sham castle ruin at Hardwick Park was built for John Burdon in 1764 by John Bell of Durham.

Much of the tower has recently been rebuilt.





​The Gothic Gatehouse before restoration.

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SEDGEFIELD                                                          NZ 343 291

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Temple of Minerva, Hardwick Park

The recently restored Temple of Minerva was designed by James Paine and built by John Bell, who worked with Paine in the Durham area between 1754-57.






The temple ruins.

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​Date taken: 26/05/2007
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Date taken: 07/09/2012

SEDGEFIELD                                                           NZ 23 28

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Tuscan Temple










Date taken: 26/09/2003

STAINDROP                                                             NZ  131 207

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  South Entrance to Raby Castle

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WESTERTON                                                           NZ 240 310

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Westerton Tower

A commemorative plaque reads:

     'This observatory tower was erected by Thomas Wright born at Byers Green 1711 died there 1786. To commemorate his treatise THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE PUBLISHED 1750, this tablet was placed here by the University of Durham 1950.'

Thomas Wright was a mathematician, architect and inventor, and known as the Wizard of Durham. It is not certain if the tower was built in 1765 or 1785.

At one time the tower was used as a reading room, and then as a council office by 1924.












Copyright Ray Blyth 2018