Approximate Location
OS Grid Reference: SJ 99476 73737
Latitude / Longitude: 53°15′38″N , 002°00′34″W
After it became clear that Susan had been wholly possessed by the Brollachan (Gomrath, Chapter 6 – Old Evil), Uthecar suggested that the flower of the mothan plant may be her saviour. He explained to Albanac and Colin that the plant grew in rugged places reached by the old straight tracks – which could be only seen by the light of the rising full moon. Gomrath, Chapter 7 – Old Magic described the search for this track after Colin discovered a reference to it in the ancient ledger owned by Gowther:
“I have followed this road from Mobberley to the Edge. It was engineered, if that be the term, at so remote an era that all record of it is lost, save the frequent mounds and stones erected to indicate the way. Of these, the Beacon and the Goldenstone are the most remarkable on the Edge, and from the latter, where I terminated my excursion, it seemed that the trackway was aligned with the peak of Shining Tor, which stands distant nine miles towards Buxton.“
Garner, A., 1963 (1988 edition), The Moon of Gomrath. William Collins / Lions. London. p53.
Colin then headed up to the Edge to look over the landscape and from Goldenstone he saw: “From here, across the fields, was the high ridge of the Pennines, and at one point, directly ahead of Colin, the line of hills rose to a shallow but definite peak… Shining Tor, presumably, thought Colin.”
Shining Tor (just left of centre) and Shuttlingslow (far right) viewed from Clinton Hill, looking east (Credit: James Wright)
Colin’s view is no longer possible due to the dense tree cover now found around the Beacon and Goldenstone, but Shining Tor (and Shuttlingslow) is still visible from the lower southern slopes around the Clinton Hill area.
His run from the Edge to Shining Tor would have been in the region of 9 miles in length, but it is described in less than one page of text. The important element is that he reached the rocky hill and found the mothan flower:
“He opened his eyes : rough gritstone lay against his cheek, grey in the moon. From between his fingers, clutching the rock, curled leaves, five-pointed, and beneath the hollow of his hand was a faint gleam of moonlight… He had taken the flower and two of the leaves. The petals flickered with a cold glow-worm light, and the fine hairs on the leaves were silver.”
Garner, A., 1963 (1988 edition), The Moon of Gomrath. William Collins / Lions. London. pp58-59.
Rock outcrop at the summit of Shining Tor where Colin found the mothan, looking south-east (Credit: James Wright / Triskele Heritage)
Identification of the mothan varies. In Volume 2 of his text Carmina Gadelica, the folklorist Alexander Carmichael expressed uncertainty but thought that it might be the bog violet (Latin: viola palustris). However, as that species favours marshland environments, it seems unlikely that it could be found growing on an rocky fell such as Shining Tor. Other folklorists, such as John Kruse, have identified it as the heath pearlwort (Latin: sagina subulata) which grows in acidic upland regions. Both authors have noted the apotropaic aspect of the mothan, which fits with its use in exorcising the Brollachan. Carmichael cited a poem which incorporated the following stanza:
“Pluck will I the ‘mothan,’
As ordained of the King of life,
To overcome all oppression,
And the spell of evil eye.”
Carmichael, A., 1900, Carmina Gadelica Volume 2. T. and A. Constable. Edinburgh. p113.
After retrieving the mothan, Colin descended the hill, to the south, and dropped down onto the modern A537 (New Buxton Road) in the region of the Cat and Fiddle Inn. He then headed west in the direction of Macclesfield where he was initially followed by the Hunter and saved by Albanac.
Shining Tor, looking north-west, the route Colin and Albanac probably took to descend the hill (Credit: James Wright / Triskele Heritage)
The hill features several times in The Moon of Gomrath. After visiting Angharad Goldenhand at Redesmere, Susan woke up up the Goyt Valley where she then inspected the ruins of Errwood Hall (Gomrath, Chapter 13 – The Bodach). Whilst trying to escape the bodachs and palugs, Susan and Uthecar ascended the eastern slope of Shining Tor (Gomrath, Chapter 14 – The Wild Hunt), a route that they later used several times when approaching or returning from Errwood Hall (Gomrath, Chapter 15 – Errwood; Chapter 16 – The Howl of Ossar; Chapter 20 – The Last Ride). For much of the way the track is a steep-sided gully cut into the heather-clad moorland.
The track between Shining Tor and Errwood Hall, looking south-east towards the Goyt Valley and Errwood Reservoir (Credit: James Wright / Triskele Heritage)
On reaching the ridge of Shining Tor, Susan and Albanac find that “a stone wall ran along its spine, which sloped gently upwards to their left, and fell on their right to a saddle, rising to a peak beyond. In front of them was a valley” (Gomrath, Chapter 14 – The Wild Hunt). The slope to their left was Shining Tor, the peak to the right was Cats Tor and the valley beyond was Thursbitch – itself a major location in Garner’s 2003 novel of the same name. Cats Tor and Thursbitch were also part of the journey that Susan and Albanac took after they made a reconnaissance of Errwood Hall. Here they learned that the Morrigan had been caught out of the house after sunrise and could therefore not re-enter until moonrise (Gomrath, Chapter 15 – Errwood).
The crest of Shining Tor, looking north towards Cats Tor and Thursbitch (Credit: James Wright / Triskele Heritage)
Returning to Susan and Uthecar’s flight from Errwood, they climbed over the drystone wall that runs the length of the northern spine of Shining Tor and followed it, south, until they came to the rock outcrops on the summit where Colin had picked the mothan: “they were soon at the top of the hill, and the relief at the level ground was cut short by the cliff that dropped under them… The cliff was not an impossible height, but the ground at its foot was only a little less steep, and it was thick with boulders. Far below a road wound through the hills.” Trapped by the bodachs and palugs, Uthecar opted to fight using the advantage of the chosen ground: “When the main force of bodachs reached the top of the hill, they found a girl and a dwarf, armed, and standing on a projecting rock, so that they could be attached only from the front, and singly.” After a lengthy fight Susan summoned the Wild Hunt and the two escaped down to the road and walked back to Alderley Edge (Gomrath, Chapter 14 – The Wild Hunt).
The projecting outcrops on the summit of Shining Tor, looking south-west towards the road and Shuttlingslow beyond (Credit: James Wright / Triskele Heritage)
Shining Tor is the highest hill in Cheshire, topping out at 559 metres above Ordnance Datum. The peak forms part of a long ridge, which features Cats Tor to the north, formed during the Namurian age from the Chatsworth Grit.
Shining Tor, looking south-west across the Goyt Valley towards Shooter’s Clough and Errwood (Credit: James Wright / Triskele Heritage)
In The Voice That Thunders (1997, 65-79), Alan Garner considers Shining Tor in an essay entitled Oral History and Applied Archaeology in East Cheshire. He concluded that it was part of a system of landmarks which also included the Armada Beacon, Goldenstone and a mound in Mobberley churchyard that were connected to prehistoric astronomical observations. I’m not eternally certain that his argument would stand up to rigorous archaeological criticism, but the article does contain many useful observations about prehistoric sites across the Edge and beyond.