2-979-658 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ceremony of Laying the Foundation-Stone of a Memorial to the late Marquess of Londonderry, on Scrabo Hill, County Down, Ireland, 1857. The stone was laid by Sir Robert Bateson, '...in presence of a large number of the tenantry and others resident on the county Down estates of the late Marquis of Londonderry...a large glass jar, hermetically sealed, was handed to Sir Robert. It contained a parchment scroll, inscribed: "In memory of Charles William Vane, third Marquis of Londonderry...This tower is erected by his tenantry and friends"...The architect having declared the stone properly laid, the union- jack was hoisted on the summit of the hill. On this signal a "Royal salute " was fired from a battery of guns...The monument, a tower in the style of a Scottish chateau, will be 135 feet high, and is to be built of the rough rubble-stone (basalt) found on the top of the hill...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.