This standing stone is called Windyway Cross, on Ipstones Edge (SK05814897). It was set up to guide packhorses over the hills from the copper mines of Ecton down into The Churnet Valley. It marks a safe route over Ipstones edge, in between the boggy bits, on the track from Ecton copper mine to Whiston Smelter. Its tall, finger-like shape could be spotted from miles around. The Whiston Smelter needed more coal than it did copper, so it made sense to position the works nearer the coal fields than the copper mine. Dating from 1882, it replaced one from 1770.
