Ingleborough's beacon shelter is repaired almost 70 years after it was built by grit and toil for the Queen's Coronation

The beacon shelter - which has a fascinating toposcope depicting the distances to Scafell Pike and Pendle Hill - was built by hand by the Ingleton Fell Rescue Team as a way of marking the historic Coronation nearly 70 years ago.

They carried stone up the mountain in their backpacks and hauled building materials with Ferguson tractors.

The idea to build the shelter and light a beacon on Coronation Day came from Ingleton garage owner Reg Hainsworth, who was also a Ferguson dealer and a fell rescue volunteer.

The structure has provided much-needed protection from the winds for walkers at the summit, but had become worn and the toposcode unreadable.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority arranged for expert repairs to be undertaken using National Lottery Heritage Fund grants - and this time the stone and cement were dropped onto the mountainside by helicopter.

All four walls were rebuilt by master craftsman Laurie Lambeth, a specialist stonework contractor, and the flagstone seats were replaced. A new bronze toposcope was also installed.

Bill Hinde, now 84, was one of the original volunteer builders and shared his memories of some of the primitive methods employed by the team.

“Reg, having the local dealership for Ferguson tractors, had access to the appropriate vehicles and he knew all the local farmers, which was invaluable in getting building materials up Cod Bank onto Little Ingleborough. Most was moved by hand up the final steep slope, but on occasions a Fergie with a link box made a suicidal trip up the rake, the final part of the current footpath from Gaping Gill to the summit.

“There were many logistical problems, various vehicles getting stuck, some for many days including Reg’s breakdown truck. The most assured way of moving small quantities was in your rucksack, but building tools and materials become heavier the further you carry them. Building stone had to be found and carried from the upper millstone slopes as nothing could be used from the summit plateau and water came from the Swine Tail spring and was stored in milk kits.”

Mr Hinde has checked the minute books of the Ingleton Fell Rescue Team to confirm that the brass toposcope was bought for £45 from Robert Pringle & Sons, a London silversmith. The toposcope indicated the direction and the distance to the fells that could be seen from the Inglebrough summit, marking, for instance, the 39 miles to Scafell in the Lake District and the 22 miles to Pendle Hill in Lancashire.

Once built, the summit shelter attracted national attention - TV reporters would climb Ingleborough to interview the builders and it featured on the BBC's North Countryman programme.

It was completed in time for the become to be lit the evening before the Queen's Coronation.

“The beacon, or bonfire, was and is a traditional Ingleton celebration of national events. The logistics of getting the combustible materials on to the summit of Ingleborough was a serious undertaking but Reg Hainsworth and other locals had past experience. Tractors and trailers had to be organised with manpower to load and unload and local knowledge of the terrain was vital," added Mr Hinde.

“The materials were manhandled by a long continuous line of helpers up the final steep slope onto the summit plateau where the expert bonfire builders did their stuff. Basically, this was a mountain of old tyres stacked around a core of scrap timber with the odd drum or two of old engine oil. The beacon was ignited by a flaming torch carried in relay by pupils from Ingleton School.”

The National Park Authority's member champion for cultural heritage Julie Martin added: “There is a fantastic story behind Ingleborough’s summit shelter. As well as being a practical structure used for respite by many people walking the Three Peaks, it stands as a magnificent tribute by local people to the Queen. It’s good that once again people can study the toposcope and learn the distances and directions to all the surrounding peaks.

“The summit of Ingleborough is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, in part because it had been long thought to be the site of an Iron Age hillfort, although recent research disputes that. I would like to thank our rangers and all the partners involved for carrying out the repair work in such a sensitive way.”