Percy Tenantry Column is a Grade I listed building in the Northumberland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 February 1952. A Neoclassical Monument. 1 related planning application.
Percy Tenantry Column
- WRENN ID
- white-postern-dock
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Northumberland
- Constituency
- North Northumberland MP: David Smith (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 20 February 1952
- Type
- Monument
- Period
- Neoclassical
- Address
- Percy Tenantry Column, South Road, Alnwick
- OS grid reference
- NU 191 130
- Coordinates
- 55.41089, -1.69917
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Percy Tenantry Column, also known as 'The Farmers' Folly', is a Grade I listed structure located on South Road. It was begun in 1816 and designed by David Stephenson of Newcastle, with completion overseen by the 3rd Duke of Northumberland. This impressive Greek Doric column stands 83 feet tall and features shallow fluting and a foliate cap that supports a drum topped with the Percy lion passant, which faces south.
The column is set on a square pedestal, which is adorned with four lions that face inward, each positioned on black marble plinths. The entire structure rests on a circular granite platform that has a circumference of 90 feet. The pedestal has panels on three sides, with a stair entrance located on the fourth side to the north. Each side of the pedestal is inscribed with "Esperance en dieu". The west panel bears the inscription: "To Hugh Duke of Northumberland KG this column is erected, dedicated and inscribed by a grateful and united tenantry Anno Domini MDCCCXVI". This dedication reflects the Duke's actions of significantly increasing farmers' rents before reducing them in response to the agricultural depression following the Battle of Waterloo. The column was formerly surrounded by railings.
Local climate
Percy Tenantry Column receives an average of 830 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 53% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 58% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 13 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 88% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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