what do you call the distance finders on top of hills?

Toposcope?

Trig point (triangulation station) ??
They are sometimes on a pillar.

Thank you for the info,
would never have known they were called a Toposcope or Trig point.
Questioned now answered
Thanks again.

Trig being short for Triangulation Point.

A lot of Trig points have benchmarks on them – pretty exact meaurements of height above sea level.

Yep, triangulation points.

Baggs

Trig being short for Triangulation Point.

Yes this is definitely what they are called.

We bought an old house in a quiet village, we couldn’t understand why every weekend people would pull up outside in their cars and then get out and start hunting around our boundary.

Eventually we asked, it turned out a pub in the next village ran treasure hunts, the trig point on our wall was one of the clues.

As Nannagarra says they are toposcopes or topographs. They are placed on high land and show all the places you can see from that point. Triangulation points, usually a stone pillar, set on a hill top are not the same thing. It was originally, a very British innovation for measuring distances and positions from one point to another. They are now longer used as we have GPS etc.

Trig points

Modern instruments can measure heights and distances more accurately so they are little more than historic value.

I like finding a tropograph on a high point. It helps me understand the topography better as I gaze out. I remember seeing one in Wales that was etched onto a long brass plate. The etcher had made a beautiful scene with exquisite lettering.

Baggs you have answered a puzzle for me. We have one of those marks on the wall next to our gate post, I wondered what it was. We get a lot of walkers passing by in the summer but I haven't noticed anyone studying it, but it is a bit worn and indistinct.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toposcope

I have a triangulation point on the corner of my house

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_arrow

This includes the use of the broad arrow on triangulation points. There is a photograph.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_arrow

Interesting ElderlyPerson. Thanks for posting.