Grey's Lost Head

Grey's Monument was hit by a lightening bolt at some undetermined time in 1941... legend has it the the head caused a tram accident and also rolled into a nearby store window. After hours of hunting through newspapers at the library and ordinance sheets at the Lit & Phil, I finally determined that there was no tram accident, but it was very likely that Earl Grey's head rolled through what is now the Pret A Manager coffee house on the corner of Grainger Street. It happened during the night of Friday 25th or early morning on Saturday 26th July 1941. I wanted to shine a light on the store front in the evening, as a sketch, but the Christmas markets were too much of an obstruction.

otherwise known as:

"Twice Thwarted by the Monument Markets during an Attempt to Make a Sketch"

Ordnance Survey, Newcastle Gateshead & Environs, Vol.2, 1894, 6 inch scale, Sheet 54.