Alport Height

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Alport Height
The Alport Stone, just below the summit of Alport Height
Elevation	314 m (1,030 ft)
Location	Peak District, England
Topo map	OS Landranger 119
OS grid reference	SK305515

Alport Height is a hill near Wirksworth in Derbyshire. It is a popular picnic site, since it has quite good views to the South, and is the first hill over 1,000 ft within easy reach of the Derby area. Like Shining Cliff Woods some 2 km to the east, it is in the care of the National Trust. It is understood to have been one of their first acquisitions in Derbyshire, acquired in 1930.

The hilltop ambience is somewhat reduced by the large number of radio masts and buildings placed in a compound on the summit, (these are not on Trust land), but these do make the hill easy to identify for many miles around.

The hill is sometimes known as Alport Stone after the name of the conspicuous pillar of quarried gritstone, some 20 ft high, near its summit. The boulder has 3 or 4 recognised routes up it, one being an 8 m route of climbing-grade E5. John Gill's bouldering website has early photographs of pioneer climbers in action on the Stone [1]. On a clear day it is possible to see Derby city centre from the summit as is The Wrekin, the Long Mynd, Clee Hill & The Malvern Hills.