There’s always been a sense of permanence about Ordnance Survey triangulation points. Manmade clutter on the hills yet viewed upon with some affection. They’ve been immortalised in the drawings of Wainwright and in countless photographs that prove that folks have bagged the summit. So it’s sad when a trig point is no more. And a reminder that they too are subject to the same natural forces as the rest of our fells.
Crag Fell is a 839m peak, not quite the highest point of the Coledale Fells, Grasmoor is a few metres higher but it commands the head of the very straight Coledale Beck making it visible from Braithwaite village and giving clear views of the Skiddaw fells.
The Ordnance Survey surveyors built this trig point from pieces of the flat rock that litter the summit around a 3″ steel pipe. They would only have had to carry up bags of sand and cement. And water too of course for the summit is dry. Although the pipe shows rusting which must have weakened it must have taken some force to actually topple the pillar. More so you would think an Atlantic gale could inflict. Perhaps man had some hand in its destruction which makes it even more sad that mindless vandalism should reach this far into the hills.
Leave a Reply