Ogden Moor and the meaning of life...

[North Country Boy]

For anyone that runs around Ogden Moor, here's something cool to check out. Was running near the old quarries on Nab Hill recently and had a closer look at the stone shelters that stand on the edge of the moor overlooking Leeming and Oxenhope. One of them is a dry stone wall in the shape of a huge question mark, and of course, every question has to have an answer! Next to it, in figures 20feet long, made of stones and rocks, is an answer that will be very familiar to anyone who's read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy......

This made my day when i found it. It must look great from an aircraft flying above, and in fact, if you zoom in close enough on Google Earth, you can just about make it out (helpfully signposted by someone already). What's bugging me, though, is where did they come from? Who built them and why? Can anyone from that area shed any light on this?

[lavender lenor]

i run that very same mostly lovely terrain regularly. did yer know that those large piles of stones that look lile mini-studley pikes were errrrrected by a local farmer many eons ago in order to avoid getting lost during period of heavy snow.

[North Country Boy]

Cheers LL. I'd heard the same, that the cairns/towers/whatever they are had been built so shepherds could find their way, and some of them definitely seem to have been built to provide shelter from the elements. Its the one in the shape of a question mark and the giant 42 that confuses me. Presumably built sometime after the late 70s when (i think) Hitchhikers Guide was published. Must have taken quite an effort to build. Anyone else seem 'em yet?

[Harry Bripps]

this is my spiritual home and i run/cycle here a lot but i never knew about what you've described. i will have to go and have a closer look. the quarries are a popular venue for illegal raves so i wonder if some spaced out hippy types had a hand in it?

[Harry Bripps]

not much use i know but......





Landmark questioned

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Saturday 23rd May 1998.


Mystery surrounds the appearance of a giant stone question mark and the number 42 on land at Nab Hill, Oxenhope.
The symbols are taken from Douglas Adams' science fiction stories 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' which sparked a TV series and in which the number 42 is supposed to be the answer to 'life, the universe and everything'.
"This is not something which could have been done quickly," says Julia Kitchen, clerk to the village parish council.
"They are stone cairns and so big that you can stand inside the curve of the question mark. I assume they are best seen from the air and people are curious about them."
She jokes: "We've heard about all these UFOs in the district. Perhaps this is a signal to them!"
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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© Newsquest Media Group 1998

[North Country Boy]

She jokes: "We've heard about all these UFOs in the district. Perhaps this is a signal to them!"

Is Oxenhope reknowned as a UFO hotspot?! We should be told.....!

Harry, you could be onto something with a link to the illegal raves up there. However, the question mark looks like a sturdy, well-made piece of dry-stone walling, not something you'd knock up late on a drunken night.

[Harry Bripps]

Is Oxenhope reknowned as a UFO hotspot?! We should be told.....!

a mate told me the UFO hotspot was Todmorden......nobbut a few seconds by flying saucer i'm sure. mind you there are a lot of mushrooms growing all over these areas...

[Alan]

They are certainly very UFO oriented in the area.

When I was training officer for the local rescue team in the early 80s, I let off a bright white para-flare from Stoodley Pike during a night exercise - I did inform the local Police in advance. The following evening's Courier was full of reports of UFO sightings from Cliviger to Luddenden.

LOL - one farmer in Cragg Vale had even been invited on board by extra-terrestrial visitors!

[Epocian]

I've an idea Anthony Greenwood of East Pennine Orienteers may be able to shed some light
check their website
www.eastpennineoc.org.uk
he's the webmaster for this and also
http://www.ogdenwater.org.uk/

[haworth hobbler]

being a local lad i run up this way fairly often, have you considered that oxenhope didn't have telly until recently, and they were asking the eternal question, how many virgins have ever lived in the village? were there so many, or did some lie?