Widgery Cross

A couple of posts ago I wrote about the start of my walk up Brat Tor. If you wish, you can read that here. With a new roll of Ilford Pan-F Plus loaded, I made it to the summit. Widgery’s Cross was built in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee by by William Widgery. It stands on the summit of the Tor at 452m and is made of granite. There are many crosses on Dartmoor, this one is the largest and the only one made up of blocks rather than carved from one single block.

These were the first couple of rolls that I developed in my first batch of home made D23 developer. I should mention that this batch was made with an attempt of scientific accuracy so I could be sure I was judging “proper” D23. Unfortunately the scales that claim to be accurate within .2 of a gram, clearly were not. I have since purchased a set of measuring spoons. While this may not be as scientific a method, is more accurate than my scales, and critically, more repeatable. Despite the questionable accuracy, I’m impressed with it so far. I’m sure that I am getting more detail in the highlights. I can see it most in the sky. In that respect it’s certainly much better than Ilford Ilfosol! I will write more as I develop more films, but so far, I’m pleased!