The Misk Hills consist of a gently undulating sandstone plateau between

Hucknall Hucknall () is a market town in the Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, north of Nottingham, southeast of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, from Mansfield and south of Sutton-in-Ashfield. Hucknall is on the west ba ...

and Annesley in the county of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

in the North

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

of England. They offer views Southwards across the town of Hucknall, and the

City of Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. They are locally considered to be the first hills in the Pennine Chain, and rise to a high point of 170 metres above sea level from the flat plains to the east. The hills are the source of three minor watercourses, the Gilt Brook, the Whyburn (Hucknall's 'Town brook') and Farleys Brook. They separate the Leen Valley from the

Erewash Valley The River Erewash is a river in England, a tributary of the River Trent that flows roughly southwards through Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, forming the boundary between the two counties for much of its length. It rises near Kirkby-in-Ashf ...

Literary links

The view over Hucknall from the easternmost height in the range, Diadem Hill, provided the setting for '' The Dream'', a poem by

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

, the Romantic English poet who lived locally in Newstead Abbey. ::I saw two beings in the hues of youth ::Standing upon a hill, a gentle hill, ::Green and of mild declivity, the last ::As 'twere the cape of a long ridge of such, ::Save that there was no sea to lave its base, ::But a most living landscape, and the wave ::Of woods and corn-fields, and the abodes of men ::Scattered at intervals, and wreathing smoke ::Arising from such rustic roofs: the hill ::Was crowned with a peculiar diadem ::Of trees, in circular array, so fixed, ::Not by the sport of nature, but of man The Misk Hills were also the subject of Byron's poem 'The Hills of Annesley' ::Hills of Annesley, bleak and barren, ::Where my thoughtless childhood strayed, ::How the northern tempests, warring, ::How about thy tufted shade! ::Now no more, the hours beguiling ::Former favourite haunts I see, ::Now no more, my Mary smiling, ::Makes ye seem a heaven to me. The Misk Hills were also mentioned by local author

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...

, in his autobiographical novel '' Sons and Lovers'', and Nottingham-born writer

Alan Sillitoe Alan Sillitoe FRSL (4 March 192825 April 2010) was an English writer and one of the so-called " angry young men" of the 1950s. He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was applied. He is best known for his debut novel ...

wrote a poem entitled '' View from Misk Hill''.

Origins of the name

The

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of the name Misk is unknown. Speculations are that the name relates to an Old English word for the moon, ''misor'', or from the Anglo-Saxon word ''miersc'' meaning 'boundary'. The Misks lie close to the boundary between the territory of the Pecsaetan Anglian tribe and that of the kingdom of

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

. This word also has etymological links with the Kingdom of

. A range of sand hills in

Stevenston Stevenston (, ) is a town and parish in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Along with Ardrossan and Saltcoats it is one of the "Three Towns#Scotland, Three Towns", all of similar size, on the Firth of Clyde coast; the easternmost parts of Stevenston are ...

, Ayrshire, Scotland, also share the name of Misk.

Land use

The Misk Hills are used for a mixture of dairy and arable farming as well as commercial forestry, and are a popular place for walking, horse riding and cycling. Skylarks,

fallow deer Fallow deer is the common name for species of deer in the genus ''Dama'' of subfamily Cervinae. There are two living species, the European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), native to Europe and Anatolia, and the Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamic ...

and

hares Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

inhabit the area. The area is intersected by the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

close to junction 27. The hills are central to Ashfield and

Gedling Gedling is a village and former civil parish which gives its name to the larger Borough of Gedling in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies north-east of Nottingham city centre. The parish was abolished in 1935 and absorbed into the urban distr ...

District Council's ' Hidden Valleys' area, designed to promote tourism in the former coal mining district of Nottinghamshire. Annesley Castle, a

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...

fortification, stands at the foot of Diadem Hill and can be seen from the A611 Annesley Bypass as it intersects the Misks. A

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

refuse dump was located in the area, and fragments of blue and white pottery litter the hills. During World War Two, a bomb shelter was built on top of the hills. Nearby Hucknall was targeted by bombers as it had an RAF base, a Rolls-Royce engineering facility and numerous coal mines. A

microlight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

landing strip once operated in the hills. Stood on the summit facing East, The Nottingham City skyline is often visible.

References

External links

Nottinghamshires Hidden Valleys
{{Coord, 53.06, -1.21, type:mountain_region:GB-NTT, display=title Landforms of Nottinghamshire Plateaus of England