Houndkirk Moor

The moor is in summer mode, being very dry under foot.

A broad rutted track. To the left are views over Sheffield. The city centre is hidden by contours but you can see beyond to Ikea and Meadowhall. Straight ahead there is also a large fire in Nottinghamshire.

Looking towards Flask Edge where there is a trig point. The land here is about the same height as Flask Edge. The Totley Tunnel crosses where the lower ground is seen.

This point is roughly over the Totley railway tunnel. The marker post is highlighting a gas pipeline. Flask Edge is on the horizon.

Pointing toward Totley Moor, through it doesn't say that.

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.

On a moorland path from the A6187 Hathersage Road

Looking over Hathersage Moor to Higger Tor

Looking over Hathersage Moor to Higger Tor

Lying in a former quarry on Burbage Edge