Countess'S Pillar

NY 52 NW BROUGHAM BROUGHAM

9/10 Countess's Pillar 6.2.68

GV II*

Monument/sundial, scheduled A.M. Dated 1656 with C20 restoration. Dressed pink sandstone partly painted. Octagonal column on chamfered base with moulded cap and cuboid block under shaped finial. The block has sundials on 3 faces with metal gnomons and painted faces; the front with Clifford arms and the misleading date 1654. The rear sundial has an inscribed plate: THIS PILLAR WAS ERECTED ANNO 1656 BY YE HON'BLE ANNE COUNTESS DOWAGER OF PEMBROKE AND DAUGHTER AND SOLE HEIRE OF YE RT HONO'BLE GEORGE EARL OF CUMBERLAND AND FOR A MEMORIAL OF HER LAST PARTING IN THIS PLACE WITH HER GOOD AND PIOUS MOTHER YE RT HONO'BLE MARGARET COUNTESS DOWAGER OF CUMBERLAND YE 3RD OF APRIL 1616. IN MEMORY WHEREOF SHE ALSO LEFT AN ANNUITY OF FOUR POUNDS TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO YE POOR WITHIN THIS PARISH OF BROUGHAM EVERY 2ND DAY OF APRIL FOR EVER UPON YE STONE TABLE HERE HARD BY. Set on a flagged base with C20 railings around it. Nearby is the alms table listed separately. Restored at the cost of £3,000 by English Heritage in time for the distribution of alms on 2 April 1986. See RCHM, Westmorland, 1936, p.62.

Listing NGR: NY5461628959