Tree Cemetery

It was a fine sunny afternoon in the Dunsop Valley, Lancashire. The sky was very blue and the clouds were spectacular. Sitting on a rock close to the river, I looked out at the distant fell and noticed what looked like a cemetery. It was of sorts. It was the site of a long-gone forest plantation The trees had been harvested but the sun-bleached stumps that remained looked like rows of white headstones from a distance.

According to Wikipedia, the nearby village of Dunsop Bridge is one of two main contenders for the location of exact geographic centre of Great Britain. Dunsop Bridge’s claim is calculated on the fact that it is the gravitational centre of the Island (although the exact point is at Whitendale Hanging Stones, near Brennand Farm, 7km north of the village. It is just one small part of a landscape running through to Hurst Green in the Ribble Valley which is said to have been the inspiration for Middle Earth in J R R Tolkien’s epic Lord of the Rings!

All images © Laurie Manton