2021
NT1967 : View towards Warklaw Hill
taken 3 years ago, near to Juniper Green, Edinburgh, Scotland
View towards Warklaw Hill
The summit of this 278 metre hill is just to the right of the mobile phone mast in the centre of the picture, and the hill itself is situated at the NorthWestern edge of the Pentland Hills. According to the best available online source, the hill gets its name from the iron age fort mounds on the South side of the nearby Clubbiedean Reservoir. Apparently 'wark' is a Scots spelling of work, which in this case signifies a man-made structure - earthworks in this instance. It is a plausible theory, but still feels a bit tenuous to me.
Somewhere beneath the patches of gorse ahead, remains of platforms used for decoy fires during the Second World War were fairly recently found. I have no idea if traces still remain as I only read about this on my return. They were officially called Starfish Decoy Sites (nobody seems too sure why) and there were over 200 of them across Britain. They were quite elaborate affairs by the sound of it, and their purpose was to trick the Luftwaffe into thinking that they were bombing the town or city nearby. Once there had been an actual hit on a place, these sites would spring into action, starting fires and activating lights and flares to mimic the nearby burning settlement for those looking from above. They had to be based within four miles of the town or city, and be a mile away from any houses, for obvious reasons! Similar tactics were used near shipyards, munitions factories and the likes.
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