Dodd Summit

Tony Richards at Lakelandcam has posted pictures of a walk up Dodd today. It's strange seeing the
summit free of forestry (although I knew it had been scalped a while ago) but I see there's a very
stark stone monument on the summit with a memorial plaque to "Ian and John".

With all respect to the aforementioned, does anyone know who they were and why it was deemed
appropriate that every visitor to Dodd summit should remember them? I dont recollect any other
summit cairns similarly dedicated.

Stuart Mann

 

In message <[email protected]>, Stuart Mann
<[email protected]> writes
>Tony Richards at Lakelandcam has posted pictures of a walk up Dodd today. It's strange seeing the
>summit free of forestry (although I knew it had been scalped a while ago) but I see there's a very
>stark stone monument on the summit with a memorial plaque to "Ian and John".
>
>With all respect to the aforementioned, does anyone know who they were and why it was deemed
>appropriate that every visitor to Dodd summit should remember them? I dont recollect any other
>summit cairns similarly dedicated.
>
I spotted the same up there last October and expressed to myself my dissatisfaction at the
clutter up there. It is not the only summit to be despoiled by a memorial though. For example -
Stuchd an Lochain.

--
Martin Richardson
216/284 Munros (34/34 'Furths')
217/89 Donalds 397/1552 Marilyns 439/439 Nuttalls

 

> >
> >With all respect to the aforementioned, does anyone know who they
were and
> >why it was deemed appropriate that every visitor to Dodd summit
should
> >remember them? I dont recollect any other summit cairns similarly
dedicated.
> >
> I spotted the same up there last October and expressed to myself my dissatisfaction at the clutter
> up there. It is not the only summit
to be
> despoiled by a memorial though. For example - Stuchd an Lochain.

I do not recall a memorial on Stuchd an Lochain but there is a plaque set into the cairn at the top
of the buttress on Stuc a'Chroin so it may be this one that you are referring to. I think the word
despoiled could be a bit strong though as many walkers would pass this memorial without realising
what it is as the engraving is on the reverse of the cairn if you approach up the buttress and the
"normal" descent takes you away from it on to the ridge. I agree I would not want to see many more
of these but do not really find them intrusive, just thought provoking.

Cheers Graham

 

Martin Richardson <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

>>
> I spotted the same up there last October and expressed to myself my dissatisfaction at the clutter
> up there. It is not the only summit to be despoiled by a memorial though. For example - Stuchd an
> Lochain.
>
I've just remembered a hill on Achill Island in Ireland - the sort with a road to the top and a
large radio mast. Large swathes of the summit plateau are given over to hundreds of personal
shrines. But it was clearly a long- standing feature of that local community so it needed no more
explanation. To come across two names without explanation on a summit cairn where I'd be apt to
linger (but not, like AW, on a busy day) would give me a vague feeling that I was intruding on what
someone else saw as a private spot.

Stuart

 

"Graham Ingram" <graham.ingra[email protected]> wrote in news:40175b01_1
@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com:

>> >
>> >With all respect to the aforementioned, does anyone know who they were and why it was deemed
>> >appropriate that every visitor to Dodd summit should remember them? I dont recollect any other
>> >summit cairns similarly dedicated.
>> >
>> I spotted the same up there last October and expressed to myself my dissatisfaction at the
>> clutter up there. It is not the only summit to be despoiled by a memorial though. For example -
>> Stuchd an Lochain.
>
> I do not recall a memorial on Stuchd an Lochain but there is a plaque set into the cairn at the
> top of the buttress on Stuc a'Chroin so it may be this one that you are referring to. I think the
> word despoiled could be a bit strong though as many walkers would pass this memorial without
> realising what it is as the engraving is on the reverse of the cairn if you approach up the
> buttress and the "normal" descent takes you away from it on to the ridge. I agree I would not want
> to see many more of these but do not really find them intrusive, just thought provoking.
>
The plaques one comes across at the sites of various mishaps generally seem quite appropriate, form
part of the history of the place and, as you say, are thought provoking. Normally the inscriptions
explain why they are there so you think your thoughts and move on. A couple of names on a new summit
cairn, lacking explanation, are more likely to remind me of an engraved bench at someone's favourite
view - or even sponsorship of works! That's fine in lots of places, but if that's all there is to it
here we might be in for a new kind of posthumous race to claim one's favourite summit.

But I dont mean to pre-judge "Ian and John" so I'm still genuinely interested to know the reason for
the memorial.

Stuart Mann

 

Park bench syndrome is getting out of hand.

Latest victim I have come across is Rubers Law, near Hawick. Chippers have stuck a plaque
commemorating the 2000th aniversary of the birth of a pretty good egg up there... but leave the
rock alone.

http://www.crux.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/balbum/Scotland/28b/RubersLaw.html

Mind local folk put this up, not once in a lifetime visitors as some of the vanity memorials
commemorate.

Richard Webb

 

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 06:49:25 -0000, Graham Ingram wrote:

> I think the word despoiled could be a bit strong though as many walkers would pass this memorial
> without realising what it is as the engraving is on the reverse of the cairn if you approach up
> the buttress and the "normal" descent takes you away from it on to the ridge.

There is a plaque on Castel y Gwynt between the two Glyders. Never seen it myself but it was
spotted on Expedition 1 and Paul Saunders had a stab at translating the Welsh. I can't remember
what it was about.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

 

"Graham Ingram" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I agree I would not want to see many more of these but do not really find them intrusive, just
> thought provoking.
>
> Cheers Graham

Isn't the top of Dodd privately owned? Presumably this type of monument/memorial can only be put up
(or at least left up) with the consent of the landowner?

Walking on the North Cornwall coast in the Autumn, I seem to remember a plaque erected by the
National Trust near Pentire Head with a piece of poetry - an extract from a World War One poem -
inscribed on it. Views were divided as to whether it was a thought-provoking and suitable addition
to the landscape or whether it was an eyesore in a place that should have been left "natural".

Final thought - I guess that very few would take exception with the Great Gable memorial tablet. I
think there's a big difference between commemoration of "public" events and incidents, which would
have some resonance for most visitors, and what seems to be an essentially private memorial.

Tim.

no spam please

 

"Graham Ingram" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I agree I would not want to see many more of these but do not really find them intrusive, just
> thought provoking.
>
> Cheers Graham

Oops - confusing my Dodds and my Rest Dodds/Nabs there! Who does own the top of Dodd?

Tim.

no spam please

 

On 28 Jan 2004 06:23:56 -0800, [email protected] (Tim
Synge) wrote:

>"Graham Ingram" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]
>2.news.uk.tiscali.com>...
>> I agree I would not want to see many more of these but do not really find them intrusive, just
>> thought provoking.
>>
>> Cheers Graham
>
>Oops - confusing my Dodds and my Rest Dodds/Nabs there! Who does own the top of Dodd?

I do.

--

Paul

My Lake District walking site (updated 29th September 2003):

http://paulrooney.netfirms.com

 

>Oops - confusing my Dodds and my Rest Dodds/Nabs there! Who does own the top of Dodd?
>
>Tim.
>
>no spam please

FC?

Richard Webb

 

>There is a plaque on Castel y Gwynt

I dont beleive it - they will piss on any lampost. What next a big egocrap drilled into the
cantilever?

Richard Webb

 

In message <[email protected]>, Tim Synge
<[email protected]> writes
>"Graham Ingram" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]
>2.news.uk.tiscali.com>...
>> I agree I would not want to see many more of these but do not really find them intrusive, just
>> thought provoking.
>>
>> Cheers Graham
>
>Oops - confusing my Dodds and my Rest Dodds/Nabs there! Who does own the top of Dodd?
>
Whoever owns the forest. Forest Commission?

--
Martin Richardson
216/284 Munros (34/34 'Furths')
217/89 Donalds 397/1552 Marilyns 439/439 Nuttalls

 

Phil Cook wrote:

> There is a plaque on Castel y Gwynt between the two Glyders. Never seen it myself but it was
> spotted on Expedition 1 and Paul Saunders had a stab at translating the Welsh. I can't remember
> what it was about.

Can't remember the details but almost certainly to do with someone dying, although not phrased so
obviously. It needs someone with better Welsh than mine to translate it properly.

Paul
--
Calendars for 2004
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk/cal/cal.html
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=118749

 

RJ Webb wrote:

>> There is a plaque on Castel y Gwynt
>
> I dont beleive it - they will piss on any lampost. What next a big egocrap drilled into the
> cantilever?

That's the problem, once people get used to seeing them, everyone will want one! Can I reserve Fan
Brycheiniog for me please?

Paul
--
Calendars for 2004
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk/cal/cal.html
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=118749

 

[email protected] (Tim Synge) wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> "Graham Ingram" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]
> 2.news.uk.tiscali.com>...
>> I agree I would not want to see many more of these but do not really find them intrusive, just
>> thought provoking.
>>
>> Cheers Graham
>
> Oops - confusing my Dodds and my Rest Dodds/Nabs there!
(snip)>
> Tim.
>
Hehe - I've got a good reference book I can recommend, Tim. It's......Oh - you wrote it

 

On 27 Jan 2004 17:53:17 GMT, Stuart Mann <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Tony Richards at Lakelandcam has posted pictures of a walk up Dodd today. It's strange seeing the
>summit free of forestry (although I knew it had been scalped a while ago) but I see there's a very
>stark stone monument on the summit with a memorial plaque to "Ian and John".
>
>With all respect to the aforementioned, does anyone know who they were and why it was deemed
>appropriate that every visitor to Dodd summit should remember them? I dont recollect any other
>summit cairns similarly dedicated.

There's a cairn and plaque above Dovestone Reservoir on the Saddleworth Edges (an area endowed
with a few such memorials) in memory of two local climbers who died in the Dolomites in 1972. It
was particularly evocative for me as it brought back memories of seeing it's counterpart at the
foot of the Second Sella Tower - a route that provided us with a benightment in poor conditions
and an epic descent just two years after Brian Tose and Tom Morton lost their lives in a similar
situation in 1972.

There is a sketch of this cairn on page 19 of Mark Richards' High Peak Walks.

 

In message <[email protected]>, Stuart Baldwin <[email protected]> writes
>On 27 Jan 2004 17:53:17 GMT, Stuart Mann <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Tony Richards at Lakelandcam has posted pictures of a walk up Dodd today. It's strange seeing the
>>summit free of forestry (although I knew it had been scalped a while ago) but I see there's a very
>>stark stone monument on the summit with a memorial plaque to "Ian and John".
>>
>>With all respect to the aforementioned, does anyone know who they were and why it was deemed
>>appropriate that every visitor to Dodd summit should remember them? I dont recollect any other
>>summit cairns similarly dedicated.
>
>There's a cairn and plaque above Dovestone Reservoir on the Saddleworth Edges (an area endowed
>with a few such memorials) in memory of two local climbers who died in the Dolomites in 1972. It
>was particularly evocative for me as it brought back memories of seeing it's counterpart at the
>foot of the Second Sella Tower - a route that provided us with a benightment in poor conditions
>and an epic descent just two years after Brian Tose and Tom Morton lost their lives in a similar
>situation in 1972.
>
>There is a sketch of this cairn on page 19 of Mark Richards' High Peak Walks.

There are loads of memorials that are not right at the summit. One that puzzled me was on
Darnaw and mentions the Daily Express Dragon Fly airplane crash. I cannot find any information
on this anywhere.

--
Martin Richardson
216/284 Munros (34/34 'Furths')
217/89 Donalds 397/1552 Marilyns 439/439 Nuttalls

 

On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 17:42:17 +0000, Martin Richardson
<[email protected]> wrote:

>There are loads of memorials that are not right at the summit. One that puzzled me was on Darnaw
>and mentions the Daily Express Dragon Fly airplane crash. I cannot find any information on this
>anywhere.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/beyond/factsheets/makhist/makhist7_prog4a.shtml

Top result from searching for "daily express" dragonfly on Google.

 

Stuart Mann <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Hehe - I've got a good reference book I can recommend, Tim. It's......Oh - you wrote it

OK, I set myself up for that one! Presumably as we speak, some-one (not me!) is planning a book on
monuments and memorials of the Lake District with a full ticklist. Mountain lists, I understand.
Tarn lists, I *think* I understand. Not sure I'd try anything else, but I'm sure people do ...

Tim.

no spam please