Perhaps only if you can remember learning about Ordinance Survey maps at school, are a keen walker or teach Geography can you truly get excited about the 80th anniversary of Trig Points. You may have discovered Trig Points when trying to learn all the symbols on Ordnance Survey maps.
There were once about 6,500 trig pillars around Britain to help the early Ordnance Survey teams accurately plot their maps. A lot of them are on the top of peaks so it must have been pretty tiring carrying all your surveying equipment right to the top of a hill or mountain to get to the trig pillar and map the area. Nowadays there might only be 6,000 but they are still supposed to be looked after by the OS and walkers have been sending their photographs into newspaper to celebrate this 80th anniversary. Below is a Trig Pillar in Surrey at Box Hill.
People are often so elated they’ve got to the top of the peak that sometimes jump up on trig pillars for a memorable photo. I’m not sure that helps the OS in keeping them intact and conserving them!
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