HISTORY & COMMUNITY

Seven Sisters

Seven Sisters round barrow is an example of a barrow in a prominent position which is a local landmark. Although disturbed by excavation in 1877 and by modern surface diggings, the barrow, which has already provided evidence of a large number of burials and of Neolithic origins, will contain further archaeological evidence for dating and environment.

The monument includes the round barrow known as Seven Sisters. It is situated in arable land on the western flank of Copt Hill and is 300m south of Copt Hill public house. The barrow mound is 3m high and approximately 25m in diameter. It is of earth and stone construction. The stones include magnesian limestone and sandstone.

Penshaw Monument

Penshaw Monument lies across the River Wear to the south of Washington and is within the City of Sunderland. It is an imposing reminder of the Lambton family. A victorian copy of the ancient temple of Theseum in Athens, it is in fact half its size and can be seen clearly from parts of west Durham, Tynemouth, North Tyneside and as far south as the Stang Forest in Teesdale.

The monument was erected in 1848 to honour John George Lambton, the first Earl or Durham (1792 – 1840). Lambton was known to Durham pitmen as ‘Radical Jack’, because of his forward thinking democratic views. A notes coal-owner, Lambton was also a politician and drafted the 1832 Reform Bill for his father-in-law, the Prime Minister, Earl Grey. This bill abolished the so-called ‘Rotten Boroughs’, an undemographic feature of British politics. Such boroughs included Old Sarum in Wiltshire, where two MP’s were elected by the owner of a ‘green mound and a well’.

Penshaw Monument

Houghton Feast

The history of the event is thought to go as far back as the 1100’s with Michealmas, a dedication festival which celebrated St Michael’s and all Angels Church which still sits in the town centre to the day, although the site was expanded and improved in subsequent centuries.

During the middle ages Michealmas became a religious feast, this was also around the time when traditions developed at the festival, firstly cooking the first geese of the season but it was only in the 16th century that the event started to become what it is today.

It was in the 1700’s when fayres became what we know them as today, with travelling ‘freak shows’, jugglers and animals becoming normalised across the country. This is developed into rides, firework displays and the Houghton Feast we know today.