Editing Tenantry Column (section)

== History ==
Designed by the [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]] architect [[David Stephenson (architect)|David Stephenson]], the column was erected by the tenants of the [[Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland|second Duke of Northumberland]] in 1816 in thanks for a reduction in rents.<ref name="LR">[https://archive.org/details/localrecordsorh06sykegoog/page/n110/mode/2up Local Records] volume II (1866) by John Sykes, pp.100–101</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A Descriptive and Historical View of Alnwick|year=1822|page=[https://archive.org/details/adescriptiveand00davigoog/page/n336 295]|publisher=W. Davison|url=https://archive.org/details/adescriptiveand00davigoog}}</ref> The foundation stone for the column was laid on 1 July 1816, an event witnessed by a large audience. The ceremony was led by a band and flag bearers and attended by Stephenson (bearing a ceremonial silver trowel), the principal tenants and two clergymen. The 21 oldest of Percy's tenants ceremoniously used the trowel to lay the stone. The foundation stone was afterwards blessed and ceremonially doused with corn, wine and oil. The column was not completed until after the Duke's 10 July 1817 death and was instead presented to his son [[Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke of Northumberland]].<ref name=davison>{{cite book |last1=Davison |first1=W. |title=A Descriptive and Historical View of Alnwick ... |date=1822 |pages=295–296 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQ8NAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}</ref> The stone for the column came from a nearby estate on Percy family land.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davison |first1=W. |title=A Descriptive and Historical View of Alnwick ... |date=1822 |page=298 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQ8NAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

The Duke had doubled or tripled rents during the agricultural boom that accompanied the [[Napoleonic Wars]] but, in an unusual show of 19th-century aristocratic generosity, had agreed to reduce them during the [[post-Napoleonic depression]].<ref name=he/> The reduction applied is said to have been 25%.<ref name=echo/> Percy was one of the richest men in England at this time.<ref name=echo/> A local legend, proved to be false, is that upon seeing that his tenants had money to pay for the structure the Duke raised his rents once more.<ref name=echo/> The Percy Tenantry Volunteers was a 1,500-strong unit of the [[British Volunteer Corps]] that the Duke had raised, at his own expense, during the war to defend the north-east from a potential French invasion.<ref name=he>{{cite web |title=Which 'Grateful and United' Tenants Erected a Monument of Thanks to Their Landlord? |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/heritage-highlights/which-grateful-and-united-tenants-erected-a-monument-of-thanks-to-their-landlord/ |website=Historic England |access-date=28 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=davison/>

The column is also known as "The Farmer's Folly".<ref name=he/> It was granted protection as a [[listed building]] by [[Historic England]] on 20 February 1952: the listing was upgraded to the highest category, grade I, on 25 August 1977.<ref name=listing>{{cite web |title=Percy Tenantry Column, Alnwick – 1041405 |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1041405 |website=Historic England |access-date=28 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref>