Went down town to meet Willie and went to Durham Road Wesleyan church. Didn’t care much for it. Went to Penshaw Hill1 2 in the afternoon with Willie Whittaker and Charlie and hurried back to go to the chapel tea. In time for the second sitting down. Mr Scroggie† preached in the afternoon but we didn’t hear him. Stayed to service. Reverend W. T Harding preached and was very good. Mr Hood spoke and was rotten. Had short walk round last thing.
Anniversary Services & Tea at Chapel.
Penshaw Hill: landmark 4 miles from Sunderland on the Chester-le-Street road; referred to in the folk song “The Lambton Worm”; since 1844 crowned with a replica of the temple of Hephaestos in Athens, built as a tribute by his tenants to John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham and 1st Governor of Canada, known in his time as “Radical Jack.” It is said that it was to be completed with an equestrian statue of the Earl (a life-size maquette which was formerly in the Baron’s Hall at Lumley Castle), but that the tenants changed their mind after the Earl’s agent put their rents up. ↩
Some descriptions of Penshaw monument, for example that at Wikipedia, state that it is a half scale copy of the temple of Hephaestos and others, for example at the web site of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, that it is twice the size of the original. In fact neither is true, although the topological similarity between the two buildings is deliberate and undeniable. ↩