CYHA News

Beyond Hope!

Man in the Landscape

On one day a number of us trooped up toward Kinder via Jacob’s Ladder before splitting into two groups. One party (Nick, Lorna, Trudi and James) went onto the Kinder Plateau while another (Dave P, Ali, Judi, Fergus and myself) trekked along the high ridge to Mam Tor (hill). The whole area was very wet and the peat sodden, but most of the day the weather stayed clear. Some nice views were seen from the route. While walking toward Mam Tor I was intrigued by the sight of a stone building with smoke trailing from it. This seemed a bizarre sight on such an exposed and isolated ridge : the thought of people living at this altitude seemed incredible. Fortunately Dave P corrected my assumptions by advising that the stone hut was in fact a ventilation shaft for the Sheffield –Manchester train route. Once again I had to admire the ingenuity and driving determination of the Victorian engineers – who else but them would drive a railway through the Pennines, marshalling navvies to bore shafts from the tops of mountains to ventilate the tunnel below. I was reminded of the building of Settle-Carlisle line, again an example of determination that overrode all physical problems of bogs, morasses and peaks along the way.

When we reached Mam Tor I was interested to see that it was crowned by the smoothed but still very apparent ramparts of an Iron Age fort. Again a bizarre sight, given the altitude of the hill. Anyone living here would be compelled to cope with high winds (which we experienced), sparse water in the summer, and driving blizzards in the winter. Why then live at this altitude ? Was it permanently occupied or – more likely – just a bolt hole for emergencies? Clearly there were different imperatives at that time, and the remains of the ramparts testify to tensions of which we can only guess.

From Mam Tor we trekked down to the valley. In the shadow of the slopes of Mam Tor the wind lessened and walking was not such a struggle. In the valley we passed through the site of Anovia, a fort built by the Romans probably to guard nearby lead workings. Lead was an important commodity - the plastic of its day : used in guttering, tableware and water pipes. In the Pennines it may have been a monopoly of the Roman Army, as it was in Wales. The stones of the ruined strong room stand forlornly in the centre of the site and a low level of stones still marked the lines of the walls. Cavalry troopers from Gallia Aquitania garrisoned this fort. In the gathering dusk and the sombre air it was easy to picture sentries by the gate, huddled in cloaks, gazing pensively into the coming gloom, and thinking of their kin snug in the pleasant clime of their homeland across Ocean. From the archaeological record it seems that the fort was bloodily fired by recalcitrant locals at least once in its existence, so perhaps the sentries reflected on these thoughts with particular homesickness.

Walking through the peaks I had a great sense that we were only passing through, another group of travellers in hills which have seen so much.

John M

It rained and it rained & rained & rained

The annual fall was well-maintained,

And when the tracks were simply bogs

It started raining, cats and dogs.

 

After a drought of half an hour,

We had a most refreshing shower,

And then, the most curious thing of all

A gentle rain began to fall.

 

Next day was also fairly dry

Save for the deluge from the sky

Which wetted the party to the skin

And after that - the rain set it!

Judi