Meeting Ethel

Sculpting through the Ethel's of Derbyshire

White Moss Path

Ethel

Meeting Ethel was not yet conceived when I took this piece out to White Moss Path, Stanage Edge, at the end of summer 2025. The visit was intended as a photographic exercise, making use of the light and the openness of the landscape.

While filming, a passing rambler told me the trig point was known as an Ethel, named after Ethel Haythornthwaite—an environmental campaigner instrumental in protecting many of the green spaces around Sheffield. I learned that there are ninety-five Ethels across the Peak District.

My ears pricked up. I was curious to know more about this woman I had never heard of. That curiosity, combined with the quiet joy of seeing the sculpture in dialogue with the surrounding landscape, planted the seeds for Meeting Ethel: a quest to sculpt my way around the Ethels of Derbyshire.

Higgor Torr, perched on Burbage edge, lacks the convenience of a trig point or tirangulation pillar. Instead it is distinguished by a gritstone outcrop which has earned it recognition as an Ethel. As the most accessible Ethel from my home town of Sheffield, it felt like a natural choice for my next sculpture. Using elements drawn from the Steel city, the work celebrates the importance of access to the wild open spaces for those living in the city. Ethel Haythornthwaite believed that access to the countryside was our natural birthright and not something for the privileged few.

Shatton Moor

Sir William Hill

3D Landscape

Sir William Hill was a deviation from my usual way of working. I wanted to spend time in the landscape first, to gain a deeper sense of the place before beginning the piece. Being there shaped both the form of the work and my response to it. At the same time, I needed to develop a method that allowed me to carry the work on my own to the Ethel. This practical constraint led me to explore lighter materials and construction techniques, resulting in sculptures that were lightweight yet robust enough for the environment.

Stanage Edge

High Neb

Charlotte

High Neb looks down over Hathersage and North Lees Hall, where Charlotte Brontë found inspiration in 1845 for her novel Jane Eyre. Standing there, I wondered whether Charlotte herself had paused at this very spot. She loved the freedom the open moorland offered, and it felt only fitting to dedicate this next sculpture to her—a place to honour her and her work.