# Toposcope

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Graphic display to indicate direction to landscape features

[Slate](/source/Slate) toposcope at the top of [Roundton Hill](/source/Roundton_Hill), with North prominently marked.

A **toposcope**, **topograph**, or **orientation table** is a kind of graphic display erected at [viewing points](/source/Viewing_point) on hills, mountains or other high places which indicates the direction, and usually the distance, to notable landscape features which can be seen from that point.[1][2] They are often placed in public parks, [country parks](/source/Country_park), the grounds of [stately homes](/source/Stately_home), at popular vantage points (especially accompanying or built into [triangulation stations](/source/Triangulation_station)) or places of historical note, such as battlefields.[1]

Toposcopes usually show the points of the [compass](/source/Compass), or at least [North](/source/North).[2]

A plinth-mounted toposcope atop [Lantern Pike](/source/Lantern_Pike).

Smaller toposcopes usually consist of a circular plaque, or a plaque with a circle marked on it, mounted horizontally on a [plinth](/source/Plinth).[1] They will have radiating lines indicating the direction to various landmarks, together with the distance and often a pictorial representation of the landmark.[1] They are frequently constructed of a metal such as [bronze](/source/Bronze), cast or etched, set on top of a concrete or stone block, which provides weather- and vandal-resistance.

An elaborate toposcope on Beacon Hill in the [Lickey Hills](/source/Lickey_Hills) near Birmingham, UK

Large toposcopes may be circular paved areas, with numerous plaques around the perimeter, each indicating a particular feature of the landscape.[1]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-WTS-ZA_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-WTS-ZA_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-WTS-ZA_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-WTS-ZA_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-WTS-ZA_1-4) ["Bathurst Toposcope"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110514034527/http://www.wheretostay.co.za/information/topic/3823). *Where to stay*. [ZA](/source/South_Africa). Retrieved 29 May 2011.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-fabnorth_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-fabnorth_2-1) ["Flamborough Toposcope"](https://fabulousnorth.com/flamborough-toposcope/). *Fabulous North*. Retrieved 8 May 2025.

## External links

- [Photos of various toposcopes in the UK on geograph.org.uk](https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=5157123)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Toposcopes](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Toposcopes).

Look up ***[toposcope](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/toposcope)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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