Limb Valley

Beeches near the eastern end of the Limb Valley footpath to Ringinglow. Black and white version. Vertical panorama created from three landscape format photos.

Beeches near the eastern end of the Limb Valley footpath to Ringinglow. Vertical panorama created from three landscape format photos.

A fine double stone wall along the eastern end of the Limb Valley footpath to Ringinglow. Just beyond the upper wall is the old Rough Rock (Namurian age) sandstone quarry, now landscaped and forming part of Whinfell Quarry Gardens. The lower wall is newer and was probably built as a retaining structure when the footpath was formalised into a recognised recreational route.

The footpath from Whinfell Quarry Gardens crosses the ancient hollow way of Fenney Lane (running from left to right in the foreground). Steps lead up to the path into the Limb Valley a short distance away.

Looking along an avenue of pines in early autumn in Rough Standhills. Rough Standhills is a largely coniferous plantation, mostly Sitka spruce, on the south side of the Limb Valley in south west Sheffield. There are occasional open clearings and rides in the otherwise densely planted trees, where bracken, bramble, and broad-leaved trees such as beech, birch and oak have taken hold.

Early autumn colours in a fully zoomed-in view over a clearing in Rough Standhills, to the dense coniferous woodland beyond. Rough Standhills is a largely coniferous plantation, mostly Sitka spruce, on the south side of the Limb Valley in south west Sheffield. There are occasional open clearings and rides in the otherwise densely planted trees, where bracken, bramble, and broad-leaved trees such as beech, birch and oak have taken hold.

Early autumn colours in a zoomed-in view over a clearing in Rough Standhills, to the dense coniferous woodland beyond. Rough Standhills is a largely coniferous plantation, mostly Sitka spruce, on the south side of the Limb Valley in south west Sheffield. There are occasional open clearings and rides in the otherwise densely planted trees, where bracken, bramble, and broad-leaved trees such as beech, birch and oak have taken hold.

Early autumn colours in a clearing in Rough Standhills. Rough Standhills is a largely coniferous plantation, mostly Sitka spruce, on the south side of the Limb Valley in south west Sheffield. There are occasional open clearings and rides in the otherwise densely planted trees, where bracken, bramble, and broad-leaved trees such as beech, birch and oak have taken hold.

Early autumn colours in Rough Standhills - a largely coniferous plantation on the south side of the Limb Valley in south west Sheffield. Rough Standhills is a largely coniferous plantation, mostly Sitka spruce, on the south side of the Limb Valley in south west Sheffield. There are occasional open clearings and rides in the otherwise densely planted trees, where bracken, bramble, and broad-leaved trees such as beech, birch and oak have taken hold.

A recent fallen tree has brought chaos to the 'bowing beech' where we held our handfasting ceremony at the Summer Solstice in 2005. It's a bit sad, but the woodland is constantly changing anyway; nothing stays the same for ever. In April 2005 it looked like this... ... and at the Winter Solstice in 2009 it looked like this:

A recent fallen tree has brought chaos to the 'bowing beech' where we held our handfasting ceremony at the Summer Solstice in 2005. It's a bit sad, but the woodland is constantly changing anyway; nothing stays the same for ever. In April 2005 it looked like this:

A patch of sunlight illuminates a beech tree in Bole Hill Plantation, in the Limb Valley on the west side of Sheffield.

Fulwood Hall in the centre of the photo, viewed from the northern edge of the Limb Valley Bole Hill Plantation on a bright but hazy morning. The high rounded summit on the distant skyline is Margery Hill, 546 m, SK 189 957, about 10 miles to the north-west, in the Dark Peak.

A fully zoomed-in view over the fields of Wigley Farm on the west side of Sheffield. The prominent house is Castle Dyke Lodge, formerly Hoyle House on old Ordnance Survey maps. Just in front of the house, in the newly harvested and harrowed fields is a small, dry valley, possibly initiated as a melt-water stream at the end of the Devensian glacial period, but no longer having any flowing water, except as a smaller feeder to a pond in the grounds of Castle Dyke house, hidden in the trees.

A closer, zoomed-in view over the fields of Wigley Farm on the west side of Sheffield. I liked the soft light in the middle distance on this bright but hazy morning. The city centre is visible through the haze on the right of the photo. The two tall buildings in the centre are the university Arts Tower and the Hallamshire Hospital. The prominent house just left of centre is Castle Dyke Lodge, formerly Hoyle House on old Ordnance Survey maps. Just in front of the house, in the newly harvested and harrowed fields is a small, dry valley, possibly initiated as a melt-water stream at the end of the Devensian glacial period, but no longer having any flowing water, except as a smaller feeder to a pond in the grounds of Castle Dyke house, hidden in the trees.

A view over the fields of Wigley Farm (extreme left) on the west side of Sheffield. I liked the soft light in the middle distance on this bright but hazy morning. The city centre is visible through the haze on the right of the photo. The prominent house just right of centre is Castle Dyke Lodge, formerly Hoyle House on old Ordnance Survey maps. Just in front of the house, in the newly harvested and harrowed fields is a small, dry valley, possibly initiated as a melt-water stream at the end of the Devensian glacial period, but no longer having any flowing water, except as a smaller feeder to a pond in the grounds of Castle Dyke house, hidden in the trees.

A closer, zoomed-in view beneath the 'Lonely sycamore' over the fields of Wigley Farm on the west side of Sheffield. The prominent house just right of centre is Castle Dyke Lodge, formerly Hoyle House on old Ordnance Survey maps. Just in front of the house, in the newly harvested and harrowed fields is a small, dry valley, possibly initiated as a melt-water stream at the end of the Devensian glacial period, but no longer having any flowing water, except as a smaller feeder to a pond in the grounds of Castle Dyke house, hidden in the trees.

On a bright but hazy morning, here is another view of this rather photogenic, lonely sycamore tree, which is all that remains of a northward extension of the Bole Hill Plantation woodland on the northern edge of the Limb Valley. The cultivated field in the foreground is shown as wooded on the 1st edition six-inch to one mile Ordnance Survey map published in 1854. The western Sheffield suburb of Fulwood is visible in the distance. The city centre is just visible through the haze at the far right of the photo. Four months previoulsy, it looked like this: