Above you can see a British Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar. They are dotted around our countryside - often occupying high points in the landscape. There are over five thousand of them and they once played a key role in the accurate mapping of these islands. Nowadays, with modern surveying methods, the triangulation pillars are largely redundant. However, people still like them and there even folk whose hobby is to "bag" them. This one is on Burbage Moor close to The Ox Stones.
I was up there this morning with Mrs Pudding. She had never been to The Ox Stones before but I have visited this place several times. By car, they are only ten minutes or so from our house.
They are outcrops of hard millstone grit, exposed by countless centuries of erosion. Can you see the layers? Long ago those layers were laid down by a mighty river, millions of years before human beings evolved from apes. I imagine that our ancestors venerated these stones for upon this moorland they made stone circles and cairns and no doubt communed with the stars above. How could they have ignored these artworks created by Nature?
A hundred yards away, there's another millstone outcrop. A young man was on top of it, looking off into the distance. Beyond him, to the left, you can see the shape of Stanage Edge which I have often referred to in this humble Yorkshire blog.
So that's all for today folks. I hope I didn't send you to sleep.
I'm not familiar with the term 'millstone grit'. The Yorkshire I know is mostly limestone country. (I've just had breakfast so you didn't send me to sleep.)
ReplyDeleteI guess it's where we get the idea of northern grit.
ReplyDeleteSee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millstone_Grit
You've just had breakfast on Monday morning and I'm just off down the pub on Sunday night! Weird!
Nope...I woke up and climbed out of bed a couple of hours ago...and finally have no just made myself a cup/mug of coffee...ready to get stuck into another week.
ReplyDeleteYou are in Monday and I am still in Sunday after spending an hour with some good ol' boys down at the pub.
DeleteI meant "now" not "no".
DeleteAnd now...I'm just made two date, cranberries, banana, walnut and ginger loaves; and both are in the oven!
I spent some special time with me and Mr. Chivas who was regally accommodating on Friday just passed.
It was my birthday...so I pumped up the stereo. Remy and Shama, my two furry rascals put in their ear plugs - not before having had a couple of whinges about the noise - but I told them to get over it and continued on.
I had a nice birthday...enjoyed my way, which was my plan. No male strippers within striking distance or sight!!
I very rarely drink these days...but I did enjoy a couple of triple Chivas Regals on Chivas Regals...straight-up...not on the rocks, and no other additives.
My phone ran hot all day. I spoke with and with those about whom I care dearly...friends from old.
Boy! The time does go by so very quickly...but good, true friends remain solid and steadfast. :)
BELATED BIRTHDAY GREETINGS LEE!!!
DeleteThe important thing is that you get out there and mix with the landscape.
ReplyDeleteThat's true but leave the sheep alone.
DeleteLOL Good one. My old walking buddy Walter, used to say to the owner of any dog he met,"Is he friendly?" Then he would pet the dog.
DeleteOnly ten minutes by car to a walk like that one. How lucky are you Mr Pudding?
ReplyDeleteAlphie
I am as lucky as a Yangtze Finless Porpoise that's just found a mate.
DeleteI was trying to reconcile the fact that the stones were laid down by a mighty river while they are actually up in the hills. Can you elucidate please?
ReplyDeleteMy geological knowledge is limited but the layers were laid down so very long ago that the continents had not yet drifted apart. Before The Ice Age, before the dinosaurs. So much lifting, so much sculpting happened in the many millennia that followed and great rivers, deserts, forests and mountains of the far distant past disappeared.
DeleteWhat does it mean to "bag" the survey marker stones? The ox stones are cool, and seem very unusual for this landscape.
ReplyDeleteTo "bag" - to tick them off by visiting them, rather like a train spotter "bagging" locomotives or a hill walker "bagging" the Munros of Scotland by climbing them.
DeleteWhat amazes me most in this post is that Shirley has never been there although it is so close to home. But then again, there are places close to my home I've never been to, so I should not be so surprised.
ReplyDeleteThat's the way of it the world over, isn't it?
DeleteThe Ox Stones cannot be seen from Ringinglow Road. Shirley has been along that road many times but mostly heading for Stanage Edge and The Hope Valley.
DeleteLast night I went and visited with two friends who are still reeling from the election-actually, we all three of us are. We had wine and were able to talk through some of our fears and we made plans to attend a march on Washington in January.
ReplyDeleteAfter getting all that out of our system, we watched a show that one friend had DVR'ed for us, it was a nature show about Great Britain. (We all moaned about how we wish our ancestors had never fought the revolution--will you all take us back?! haha!) Anyway, they were showing the most beautiful scenes from an area between Sheffield and Manchester. I kept thinking, "My friend Yorkshire Pudding lives close to there!" It was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places on Earth. You're lucky to be born where you were. :)
We will take you in as our live-in maid and Gregg can be our butler. He will also need to construct a fish pond in our garden. Do you know how to curtsey Jennifer?
DeleteI applaud your plan to join the march on Washington. I will be there with you in spirit. I very much doubt that James Comey will be on that march! He's what we Yorkshire folk call a "right twat".
YP, my husband could make you a beautiful fish pond in your garden! Or a planted aquarium inside your house--those are his specialty! :)
DeleteThe march is a "Million Woman" march to protest our new Sexual-Predator-in-Chief as well as his promises to do away with abortion rights. It's a scary time to be a woman in America.
"A right twat" Hahaha! I'm going to start using that.
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