Quicksaw Plantation

According to this site there are 244,282 grid-squares containing land in Britain. An accurate figure of the number of trig points still standing, though, isn't so easy to come by. This is mostly because the serious trig-bagging websites include in their lists the sites of now-destroyed ones, and also often list more minor structures involved in triangulation. (Though I'm sure if I got the hang of various filters in the complicated looking searchboxes it could be done). Online articles celebrating Rob Woodall's completion of all Britain's trig points in 2016 put the figure at 6,190. Since this impressive feat took over a decade though - including a two-year wait for a landowner to grant access to one pillar - it is likely the figure is slightly lower now, due to them being destroyed or moved by landowners (they are not protected structures as a lot of people think), and general effects of the weather. If 6,190 is taken as the figure, though, it means that there is a trig point for every 39 grid-squares, on average. Which makes this tiny part of Britain something of an anomaly I'm sure. Not only is there a trig point in the grid-square immediately West of this one; there is another two squares South of that one. This means that a 3x2 block contains three trig points. Since none of them sit on particularly difficult terrain, there is the very unusual possibility of visiting three trig points on a leisurely two to three hour circular walk. This one's official name is 'Ringinglow', and it first got used in calculations in 1948. There is a moderate steady incline from the North, but on the opposite side the field dips down quite steeply.

This building was rejuvenated once before - hence the title - but it seems unlikely it will be put to any use again. Its original purpose seems to have been as an office, or works building, of a copperas chemical plant - this operated between the 1810s and 1870s. It definitely fell into disrepair shortly thereafter, as it is shown without a roof on a late 19th Century OS map. It then became a farmhouse, which was referred to as both Copperas House and Copperas Farm subsequently, but only as Copperas House on maps. The farm was abandoned in the late 1940s. Not having a chemistry degree, I have been more than a bit out of my depth researching copperas, which is an actual proper substance (completely unrelated to copper it seems) that I had never heard of! The manufacturing of it, though, was a huge industry in Britain from the 1600s to the late 1800s. It was a used to produce sulphuric acid, which seems even to this day to be something of a wonder chemical. Back then it was mainly used for pen ink, and dying fabric. I can't figure out if it was actually black, or as close as they could get to it, but dark marking was its thing, and it was either used on its own to colour things, or in conjunction with other colours which enabled them to bind to the fabric faster. The chemical stuff, as previously mentioned, is a bit confusing to the layman, but basically they got poor quality coal (for coal purposes anyway) known as pyrite out of the ground, and chucked it in a pit exposed to the elements for a couple of years. This stuff turned into green crystals when boiled, and when bolied again and then condensed was ready for action. Copperas was the legally required dye for dark silk in Britain for several hundred years.

There are far more paths on the ground than on the map in this wood, including two recently purpose-built mountain bike trails - Europe's first to have been crowdfunded according to one site. There doesn't seem to be anything definitive about its name, though there are a couple of discussions online about the mysterious Lady Canning. I have my own theory! The Lady Canning that gets mentioned the most was the wife of Britain's shortest ever serving Prime Minister, George Canning, who died in office after less than four months in the job. There isn't a great deal written about her (in the usual places anyway), and she died in 1837. When she died the title then transferred to the wife of her only surviving son, Charles Canning, who also held government posts, but is best remembered for his roles in India : he was effectively the British guy in charge there for a number of years, holding the posts of Governor-General and Viceroy. The second Lady Canning (born Charlotte Stuart) spent the majority of her twenties and thirties as one of a select few in the inner circle of Queen Victoria. Her official job title was 'Lady of the Bedchamber', but her main duties revolved around accompanying the Queen at functions and making sure things were to her liking at them when required. She only left the post when her husband got dispatched to India. Once there, she painted prolifically, and a few hundred of her pictures are held by the V&A in London. It is also mentioned that she was a keen botanist too, collecting bits of previously unseen plants (by her at least) on her travels. She died of malaria in India in 1861. Considering that the later Lady Canning, on top of being important enough to supposedly have had an Indian dessert named in her honour (the 'ledikeni'), was a good friend of the Queen, was a recognized artist and plant collector, and that some of the oldest trees in the plantation have had their rings counted, showing a likely planting date in the 1850s or 60s, I rest my case! I think the name was probably given by a local landowning noble, to commemorate her, shortly after her death.

I think the idea is that the weight of the stone ensures that the gate always shuts - it is completely ineffective, though, as the gate stays in whatever position it is left! Such well-meaning work will have been carried out by the Peak District National Park Authority, who maintain the footpaths within the boundaries of the park. This area is on its far Eastern edge, fairly close to Sheffield. The Peak District National Park was the first in Britain to be designated, in 1951, perhaps because there were trespass marches held on its land in the 1930s - one of which led to scuffles with gamekeepers, arrests, and imprisonments - which further pushed forward the case for public access to wild land. It covers part of four counties - Cheshire, Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and Staffordshire. Others followed fairly quickly, and there are now 15 national parks across Britain in total.

The TrigpointingUK website is the best place to find out the serious stuff regarding Britain's 6,000+ trig points, plus there are often detailed write-ups from the various trig-baggers, which every now and again contain a few interesting titbits of information. One thing that always confuses me on there though is the seemingly arbitrary marking system that the baggers use to rate the trig. This one has marks that regularly vary between 5/10 and 10/10. The interesting information about this one is that somebody called Alex applied four coats of white paint to it this April. Whoever Alex is joined the trig-bagging community in April this year and secretly carried tins of white paint up to 10 trig points in England, then disappeared three weeks later. It isn't mentioned whether all of the trigs had previously been white, though older pictures confirm that this one was. Apart from being chased by a park ranger somewhere it seems to have been a successful short-lived hobby, and Alex always seems very proud of his or her work, often reporting how they can afterwards be clearly seen at great distances! The trig pillar gets its name from the two big stones in the distance and stands at 419 metres. It was first computed - which I'm pretty sure means its height was officially determined so it could then be used for subsequent measurements itself - like so many of them, in 1948.

People correctly assume that this curious building was a toll house on the Sheffield-Buxton turnpike road that came into being in the middle of the eighteenth century. However, before that it was a farm and by 1785 it had become an inn under the instructions of Lord John Murray of Banner Cross who drove the turnpike project and was a significant landowner in the local region.

The OS Flush Bracket S2159 is secured to the triangulation pillar at Oxstones.

The OS Flush Bracket S2159 is secured to the triangulation pillar at Oxstones. The identifying brass plate is near the base of the pillar.

At Ringinglow near the entrance to the Norfolk Arms PH car-park on the north side of the road is the 5 miles from Sheffield stone on the route of the Sheffield to Chapel-en-Le Frith of 1758. Clearly a replacement as it is unlike the other stones on this route. Sheffield Town Hall was built in the 1890s so perhaps this stone dates from the late 19C or early 20C.