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Caption for Alnwick, the Lion Monument c1955: The first thing that greets travellers arriving from the south is the Percy Tenantry Column, known locally as the Farmers' Folly. It was built in 1816, and the story most often told is that it was erected by the duke's tenant farmers in thanks for having their rents remitted during a period of agricultural depression. The story goes on that the duke, surprised that his tenants could afford such a memorial, immediately put their rents up. The truth is that it was erected by the members of the Percy Tenantry Volunteers, a unit raised by the duke for home defence during the Napoleonic Wars.

An extract from Northumberland Tyne and Wear Photographic Memories.