St Leonard's

The obelisk is a square, slender sandstone column measuring some 100ft in height. It was commissioned by W. L. Wharton (of Wharton Park fame) in 1850, who then gifted the obelisk to the newly formed Durham University Observatory. The donation of the obelisk is noted in the 1850 Senate Minutes:

“W. L. Wharton of Dryburn having erected in his own grounds an obelisk as a North Meridian Mark for the Observatory, Warden and Senate express their grateful sense of this additional instance of the constant attention which Mr Wharton pays to the advancement of science and the interests of the University.”

The obelisk was erected to mark a line running due north from the Observatory just under a mile away, and was used for checking the alignment of the main observatory telescope. It was used by the Observatory as a guide to measure true north for nearly a century until 1939.

In 1935 the obelisk and surrounding area was purchased by the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, along with Springwell Hall, for the establishment of St Leonard’s school.

You can read more about the history of our Obelisk here: Durham’s secret tower – Palatinate