IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Hillside, NEWPORT, TF10 9HG

A more recent view.

It turns out that this monument, edifice, monolith and obelisk is to a local landowner who became the Duke of Sutherland, one George Leveson Gower. The plaque and monument was funded by his tenants locally in his memory, after his death, in 1833, in thanks for his qualities as a landlord; generosity, fair mindedness, true nobility and a life of selfless service, it would seem. Fair enough I thought. I had never heard of him. Sounds like a good landlord. A full Duke no less. Impressive. Then I google him. An education befitting a gentleman of his age. Born into privilege and rides the hog high all the way... Becomes an MP at a young age. Holds various public offices. Ambassador to France in Paris at the time of the French Revolution. Recalled as totally out of his depth. Inherited massive land holdings, wealth and titles, becoming the richest man in the country for most of his life. Then I see he was responsible for Highland Clearances on his massive Scottish estates, evicting tenant farmers, burning their homes and turning them out as sheep grazing was more profitable than collecting rents from them as tenant farmers. Profits before people. No noblesse oblige. More hideous greed at all costs. He seems to have had the resources to leave a model legacy; leading innovation, conducting himself with unblemished conduct, contributing to national service, sharing his amazing good fortune and advancing the standing of his country, his god and truth. But nope. Already fabulously wealthy, it seems he just craved more obscene wealth. And why are these monuments always so phallic?

This tablet lies at the foot of the monument and states that the tablet is 443ft 3 inches above mean tidal level of the sea at Liverpool. The top of the column is 63 ft 6 inches above the tablet. The tablet was put in place in 1874, struck by lightning in 1884, and restored in 1890.

From Wikipedia;- The Lilleshall Monument is a 70-foot high obelisk, a local landmark which stands on top of Lilleshall Hill and was erected in honour of the 1st Duke of Sutherland.

Erected in memory of the First Duke of Sutherland in 1839. On it is the inscription: "To the memory of George Granville Leveson Gower, K.G. 1st Duke of Sutherland. The most just and generous of landlords. This monument is erected by the occupiers of his Grace's Shropshire farms as a public testimony that he went down to his grave with the blessings of his tenants on his head and left behind him upon his estates the best inheritance which a gentleman of England can bequeath to his son; men ready to stand by his house, heart and hand."

This touching stone is set into the base of the monument on the top of Lilleshall Hill. His Shropshire tenants may have had a different view to that of the Scottish tenants of the laird's lands, as he was closely involved in the Highland Clearances of the 18th & 19th centuries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_Sutherland