Penshaw Church, Egyptian tablet

Penshaw Church is a19th century church of fairly plain design. In the nave of the church, on the left hand wall towards the communion rail, there is a stone tablet of pink granite. This is a fragment of the Great Pyramid of Giza near Cairo, the tomb of Cheops who died about 4,500 years ago {1}. The fragment ended up in Penshaw because Sir George Elliot MP, financial advisor to the Egyptian Khedive, was given two fragments in 1876 as a gift (the other, a granite tablet, is in West Rainton church in County Durham). Elliot lived near Penshaw as a boy. Members of his family are buried there.