Hemel Hempstead: Ordnance Survey Fundamental Benchmark
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Hemel Hempstead: Ordnance Survey Fundamental Benchmark by Nigel Cox as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
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Hemel Hempstead: Ordnance Survey Fundamental Benchmark
Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 17 Dec 2020
The green railings enclose the Ordnance Survey Fundamental Benchmark in Hemel Hempstead. This was built into living rock, and it still forms part of the actively maintained national network of about 200 of these marks. Its somewhat incongruous location behind a church, that is itself known as the church behind the chippy (!), can be explained thus:- In fact the Benchmark predates all the residential development at Grovehill, and is shown in the open countryside on the 1925 large scale Ordnance Survey map on the other side of a long lost lane to a long lost house called Two Beeches. Its published height is 144.57 metres, or 474.3 feet. What impact the roots of the large tree next to the compound have had on the benchmark's stability is anyone's guess!
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Image Location
Latitude
51.773581
Longitude
-0.456395