13 May 2021

Reform

1888 OS Map

Yesterday I had been hoping to take another long walk but the weather seemed too unpredictable. Instead, I drove out of the city then over the moors to Hathersage. There  I turned up the winding road that leads to Highlow Hall.

With Clint happily parked, I set off along the little used narrow lane that leads to Offerton. There I headed up to Offerton Edge. It was quite a steep climb and I had to rest twice or thrice just to catch my breath. Leaving the path, I headed east along the top of the moorland edge hoping to solve a mystery. I was looking for something called "The Reform Stone".

It is marked in Ordnance Survey mapping but I have never seen a photograph of it and I have no idea why it has that peculiar name. My research has suggested two possibilities - that it is either a "cairn" or a small "standing stone". Its exact position seems to vary. I have used all my googling cunning to find out something more about it but to no avail.

Lamb on Offerton Edge

Offerton Moor hosts several "tumuli" and other lumps and bumps dating back as far as The Neolithic Period.  Again, I have no idea if The Reform Stone belongs to that same era of human presence.

When I got to the rough position of The Reform Stone nothing really caught my eye. It is very possible that I stumbled right past it - not knowing quite what I was looking for. Then set back a few yards from the top of the edge, I saw this rising up out of the heather:-

It is obviously not a natural feature but some sort of cairn or burial structure placed here by people from our distant history. For a moment I thought I had found The Reform Stone but later research led me to suspect that this was not it.  Now I have found some mapping coordinates that may or may not help me to pinpoint the stone. I must go back there again before too long. This mystery is starting to annoy me. My camera is GPS enabled so with a small amount of effort I can stand here - 53°19'25"N 1°40'54"W  - where The Reform Stone is meant to be. However, I am sure that I have already been within ten feet of this position and spotted nothing of particular note.

Finally, here's lovely Offerton Hall, sheltering below the edge on the southern side of The Hope Valley. The building dates back to at least 1658 but it was clearly developed around a much older structure:-

31 comments:

  1. I was contemplating a second reading of Rebecca West's monumental study of the Balkans *Black Lamb and Grey Falcon* (Canongate) when I spotted your poignant photo of that solitary lamb on Offerton Edge. Do ye mind Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze?

    The Reform Stone has been there a wee bit longer than 1942, when Miss West published her opus.
    I like this Neolithic romance which lights up your posts. Gai couthy.
    Wait till Phoebe has a walk up by. She'll be singing songs to ye hills so she will.
    Haggerty

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    1. "The hills are alive with the sound of Haggerty!
      With songs he has sung for a thousand years..."

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  2. You don't think the lamb was standing on the stone do you YP? He's got rather a superior look on his face!
    That pile of stones looks as though they may have been a structure at some point, so perhaps you were in the right place?
    I do hope that you can solve the puzzle - and that someone hasn't carted the stone off to build a rockery!

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    1. That last possibility had occurred to me. I will keep you posted CG. Not sure when I will be back there.

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  3. Curiouser and curiouser...
    Do you think its name has anything to do with the time of the Reform Act?

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    1. Maybe. But if it has something to do with that, why on earth is it up there in a seldom visited part of the moor?

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  4. Who does not love a good mystery! You could write a book about your findings and your theories, making it a mixed work of facts and fiction.
    Offerton Hall - the big house looks a bit austere, I think; not much like a warm and welcoming home.

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    1. Charcoal-coloured storm clouds were building as the two German sisters who were on a hiking holiday arrived at Offerton Hall. Then heavy rain burst forth. They hammered on the old oak door which creaked open two minutes later. There was a flash of steel white lightning. A silver haired butler appeared. He looked vaguely skeletal.
      "How can I help you?" he sneered.
      "Excuse me sir. We are lost and my sister has twisted her ankle," said the tall blonde sister who looked like a librarian.
      *Oh dear, oh dear," he cackled.
      Then he invited them in. Through their agreement they were making the worst decision they had ever made...

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  5. You didn't find the stone but at least you had a lovely walk. You are so lucky to live someplace with so much history. Our history is geological more than human as the indigenous people didn't leave behind so much stuff. Europeans have only been around these parts for less than three hundred years and only settled here in 1794. A mere blip in time comparted to European history.

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  6. Are there leylines there? It looks very much like the stone circles you find here in Ireland, the West country, JayCee country: IOM and Scotland.

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    1. We have many Neolithic and Bronze Age sites here and yes there are ley lines though I am not sure I believe in their power. Yet to be convinced.

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  7. I see a face in the large middle stone a bit like a lion.
    Briony
    x

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  8. Clearly sheep don't pose the same hazards as cattle.

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    1. No. You could never be savaged by a sheep or even a flock of sheep.

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  9. That stone looks like a face to me... but then perhaps that's just me.
    Don't you have GPS on your phone? There are some very good free ones 'GPS OS' is brilliantly simple for OS grid refs and it's display is so large you don't even need glasses to read it! Trust me - try it out and you'll see.

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    1. As I told you before, I do not own a mobile phone and never have done so unfortunately your thoughtful tip has fallen on stony ground.

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    2. Ah sorry, I missed that. I should not assume!!!! Phones's are a both a blessing and a pest - to be fair the GPS functions are fab. In many ways I quite like the idea of phone without the ability to receive calls or texts - I suppose a mini ipad would do the job.

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  10. You guys sure have some old stuff over there! I'm always so amazed.

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    1. It is all around us but many of my fellow citizens seem to take it for granted.

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  11. The answer is in the name: "Its exact position seems to vary"

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    1. By that I meant in OS mapping through time.

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    2. It must form, deform and reform in different places.

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  12. I like following old maps and seeing what there is to see.

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  13. I'm sure you won't let this one go and now you've got me curious as to what the stone is.

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    1. It may be a little while before I climb that ridge again Red but I will do!

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  14. A puzzle, funny it is line with the tumuli, could be another one, and then the stone renamed 'Reform Stone' for a religious gathering place. A meandering prehistoric trackway is my guess;)

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    1. I guess that a feature of much archaeology is speculation rather than clear-cut answers.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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