friends; the group had climbed around the top twice and were attempting to do so a third time. Scott tried to climb over a pediment to cross between the two walkways when he stumbled and fell . A doctor pronounced him dead at the scene. A police officer told an inquest at the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Fatfield that it was usual for people to visit the top of the monument on public holidays. He said the stonework at the top of the pediment was worn, suggesting that many people had scaled it. The deputy coroner declared a verdict of accidental death and recommended either that spiked railings be put on the pediments, or that the door to the staircase be permanently locked. The door was kept locked from then on; after repeated break-ins it was sealed with cement, and later bricks. 1930s to 1970s: National Trust restoration At a conference organised by the Council for the Preservation of Rural England in Leamington Spa in summer 1937, J. E. McCutcheon of Seaham Town Council spoke about the need to protect tourist destinations in County Durham. McCutcheon's comments interested B. L. Thompson, who was attending the conference on behalf of the National Trust; the two men began corresponding. As a result, the Trust agreed to take over Penshaw Monument from John Lambton, 5th Earl of Durham on the condition that covenants be imposed on Cocken Wood, an area of woodland near Finchale Priory. The monument became the Trust's property in September 1939. In April 1950 it was classed as a Grade I listed building on the National Heritage List for England; its official name is the Earl of Durham's Monument. Grade I buildings make up only 2.5% of listed buildings, and are described by Historic England as "of exceptional interest". In 1936 the Sunderland Echo and Shipping Gazette reported that multiple large stones had fallen from the monument and a fence had been erected around it—the fence was wooden and covered in barbed wire, and was still there in 1938. By July 1939 repair work was being carried out, and scaffolding was present around some of the monument's columns. It was not damaged during the Second World War, despite raids on Houghton-le-Spring during The Blitz. In 1942 it was struck by lightning; this caused damage to the top of the column containing the staircase. This damage—a hole at the top of