Rock outcrop on Great Hograh Moor

I’ve been wanting to try and find this rock outcrop for some time (a bit of intel from John, thanks). Armed with a grid reference, I parked at Hob Hole and climbed up to the Skinner Howe Cross Road on a wintry morning.

The outcrop was easy to find, a large overhang which has been walled up as a shelter. It reminded me of the shelter at Low Cable Stone in Tripsdale. A better shelter, not really a bothy, but if you were forced to overnight here it would be a tad uncomfortable although providing a sanctuary from the elements. The Gaelic have a good word for this type of shelter ‘fraon‘. I like that.

Shelter below the rock outcrop

On top of the rock outcrop, I found the real reason for visiting, a Latin(?) inscription.

PER ADVER
AD. ASTRA

It looks like Latin and I’m not so sure about that ‘.’ after the ‘AD’. See for yourself:

Inscription on the rock outcrop

Google struggles to translate this, and my ‘O’ level Latin is a little rusty. It has some similarity to the RAF motto ‘Per ardua ad astra‘ which translates as ‘through adversity to the stars‘.

‘Ad astra‘, ‘to the stars’ is a phrase that has been attributed to Virgil.

As for ‘per adver‘, Google translates that as ‘the adversary‘, although ‘per‘ as the preposition ‘through’ does sound better to me.

So we come back to the RAF motto. Is there a subtle difference in the meaning? Any help appreciated.

And that is things to do in Lockdown, number 42.

Posted

18th February 2021

Great Hograh Moor

Fhithich

Tags:

inscription, Latin, rock outcrop, shelter

Comments

8 responses to “Rock outcrop on Great Hograh Moor”

Janet E Cochrane

19th February 2021

A cod Latin, half-remembered attempt at ‘through adversity to the stars’, perhaps? Do you know if there were any wartime plane crashes near there? Could be in commemoration of one of those, maybe.

Reply
1. Fhithich
  
  19th February 2021
  
  Thanks, I thought about that. I suspect it might pre-date the RAF.
  Not aware of any crashes.
  
  Reply
John

19th February 2021

Great Hogarth?? You haven’t fallen foul of some dodgy auto-correct? There are no crash sites in the area although weirdly I first came across the inscription en route to a potential site (it was actually 32 miles away, someone had interpreted a wartime Cassini ref as a modern OS ref). Looking at some of your ‘Great Hograh’ links I do wonder if it could be the handiwork of Roland Close. The only other aircraft link is the 3.7″ AA shell that usually frequents the area, possibly under the snow?

Reply
1. Fhithich
  
  19th February 2021
  
  Thanks again. Typo corrected. To be honest I forgot to look for the shell. i’m sure I’ll be back.
  
  Reply
mark c adams

20th February 2021

I suggest that it’s an abbreviation of ‘per adversitatem’.
Small typo – Virgil, not Vigil.

Reply
1. Fhithich
  
  20th February 2021
  
  Sounds good. Thanks.
  
  I’ll fix the typo.
  
  Reply
Simon Grimes

21st January 2022

One of my favourite places, discovered by accident while wandering around the moors 50 years ago. . (Avoiding chores at Friends School Great Ayton. I always assumed it was engraved by a bored (and illiterate) RAF observer.

Reply
1. Fhithich
  
  21st January 2022
  
  Points to that way, doesn’t it.
  
  Reply