Miscellaneous Pictures

Hartcliff
Hartcliff is well-known for its folly tower (which is not normally open to the public) atop a windswept ridge south of Penistone. The nearby 'top road' is a favourite picnic place with bench seats to take in the lovely views towards Langsett reservoirs and the moors beyond, towards Derbyshire. The distant patches of purple are heather. It is an area that is largely untainted by man-made artifacts but this outer edge of the Peak District was very nearly blighted by massive wind turbines. After that it might have been very difficult to reject any planning applications to further blight this scenic view.

The 'Sheep at the end of the rainbow' picture was taken on the other side of the road, looking towards Penistone. This area is near to a good place for picking bilberries in the autumn. It had just been raining but the sun was starting to burst through. It was a strongly-coloured rainbow and it is interesting how the sky inside it was lighter than that outside it.

The Tower
The tower was originally built by Henry Richardson, a cotton merchant and Barnsley's first mayor. Now owned by Jeff Pears of Bella Vista farm, it has been restored to its former glory. Jeff's daughter Lisa urged him to have the work done as she felt that it was part of the local heritage. To raise funds for 'Daisy Chains' pre-school club, Lisa arranged an open day for the public and this is how the new pictures were taken (many thanks, Lisa).

There also used to be a stone summer house nearby, but this was demolished many years ago. Although the tower is a folly there were stories that it was used for some kind of wartime work, such as a gun placement. I went up the old tower many years ago and recall seeing steel balls set into the top, as though for some kind of tripod. Could it have been some sort of observation point? It would have been a good place for a telescope. Looking at the (undated) old picture, it looks like there was a flagpole. As there is a precedent and therefore no need for special permission, it might be good to have one refitted. The old tower appears to have been slightly tapered.

Views from the top
These pictures were taken on the very wet and windy charity open day in June 2004, hence some camera shake. The panoramic one does not link to anything larger, hence its black border (the convention on this website for pictures which do not link anywhere else). Notice the thirteen wind turbines at Royd Moor and the distant tower of Emley Moor transmitting station, for broadcast tv and local radio, etc. The single turbine is at Bullhouse on the road to Manchester. These turbines don't particularly blight the view. Please also visit the Wikipedia page for more on the folly.