Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Bleaklow Head

02.07.19  Wincobank Hill (SK 377 910)

Wincobank Hill (SK 377 910)

With the weather settled and a number of days relaxing with Pinger; a good friend who lives in Grimesthorpe in Sheffield, I looked for a suitable Tump to visit.  The wooded hill behind Pinger’s house was ideal and is listed as Wincobank in the Tumps. 

Prior to visiting this hill I asked Tracy; another friend who has lived all her life in Sheffield and who lives in the area known as Wincobank, whether this hill has a name, she replied; Wincobank Hill.

Pinger then conducted online research and found various sites that name the hill as Wincobank Hill.  Ideally all that was now required was a notice board at the start of the north-eastern approach to the summit from the top of Jenkin Road proclaiming that this hill is in fact named Wincobank Hill.

Detail from the information board at the start of the walk

I drove to an estate just below the top of Jenkin Road; a steep road made famous on the 2^nd stage of the 2014 Tour de France.  Having parked we sauntered the short distance beside the road to a track conveniently aiming its cobbled and greened way toward the summit of the hill.

The cobbled track leading toward the summit of Wincobank Hill

Enclosing the summit area is an ancient hill fort with debate concerning its age.  The upper embankment encircles a large area now greened with stunted oak, grasses and a rogue bramble or two.  As we chatted and made progress up the cobbled track the first potential summit position sprang up on our right, thankfully this was relatively open to satellite reception and within a few minutes the Trimble was set up on top of my rucksack and data were gathered.  During this Ping sat on a near seat and waited patiently, enjoying the warmth of the day and our unrushed little outing.

The first of three potential summit positions

Following the track further south-west and another rise on the right gave the second potential high point of the hill; this has heather on it and is close to one of many stunted oak trees.  Once data were gathered and stored we continued south-westward and joined the inner embankment to follow this round the northern part of the upper hill.

The second of three potential summit positions

Pinger on the inner embankment making our way to its high point

The embankment also has two points that vie for summit position, each either side of the cobbled track and of similar height.  One of these positions was Trimbled but as the equipment was positioned under a tree with summer greenery all around I suspect the data will be compromised.  We waited over an hour before I pressed Log, during which conversation flowed and Pinger collected varieties of grasses.

The third of three potential summit positions

Happy with our endeavours we followed the cobbled track back to the car and drove the short distance westward to where Bluebell Road intersects with Honeysuckle Road.  This is where the col of Wincobank Hill is positioned.

Gathering data at the col of Wincobank Hill whilst Pinger enjoys the jelly babies

It was relatively easy to judge where the uphill and downhill of the valley to valley and hill to hill traverses met and once I positioned the car in a suitable spot I gathered data from its roof having measured the offset between the Trimble’s internal antenna and the ground below.  All that remained was to munch on the jelly babies that Ping had just bought from a corner shop!

LIDAR image of Wincobank Hill (SK 377 910)

Postscript:  Since the survey of this hill, the LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique is being used to produce accurate height and position for hills.  Subsequently this hill has been analysed via this technique, and it is the summit result that is being prioritised in preference to that produced by the Trimble GeoXH 6000.

Survey Result:

Wincobank Hill (significant name change)

Summit Height:  161.0m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SK 37770 91011 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  122.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Col Grid Reference:  SK 37574 91286 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Drop:  39.1m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

Dominance:  24.27% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet