A tribute to the Queen at the top of one of the highest mountains in the North which has provided crucial shelter for walkers for nearly seventy years has been restored to its former glory.

The stone shelter at the top of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales has been a refuge for thousands who have managed to reach the top of the 2,372 foot high summit.

But it had become badly battered and the special 'toposcope' which offered information and distances to nearby places of interest was unreadable.

It had been built by garage owner Reg Hainsworth who with the Ingleton Fell Rescue Team built the crosswall shelter just in time for the Coronation on June 3 1953.

Now it's been rebuilt by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority through the Dales Millenium Trust's Stories in Stone Programme, paid for through the National Lottery heritage Fund. A new toposcope has also been put on so visitors can see what lies on the horizon including Scafell ,39 miles away in the Lake District. A documentary on the original construction and the repair work has been made for YouTube.

Drystone Walling Association Master Craftsman Laurie Lambeth led the work which involved getting stone, flags and cement to the site by helicopter.

Originally Reg Hainsworth had to persuade farmers and landowners to help him get the necessary materials up the steep slopes by hand and tractor.

Bill Hinde, 84, who worked as a volunteer on the original site said: "Most was moved by hand up the final steep slope but on occasions a Fergie with a link box made a suicidal trip up the rake, the final part of the current footpath from Gaping Gill to the summit.

"There were many logistical problems, various vehicles getting stuck, some for many days including Reg’s breakdown truck. The most assured way of moving small quantities was in your rucksack but building tools and materials become heavier the further you carry them."

From the beginning the summit shelter attracted attention from around the world with reporters venturing to the top of the mountain for interviews with Ingleton Fell Rescue.

Although the weather turned miserable for the original unveiling of the shelter the evening before the coronation a beacon was still erected on the site to mark the event.

Park Authority Champion for Cultural Heritage, Julie Martin, said the summit of Ingleborough is a scheduled ancient monument and was long thought to be the site of an iron age hill fort although this has been disputed by recent research.

She added : "There is a fantastic story behind Ingleborough’s summit shelter. As well as being a practical structure used for respite by many people walking Yorkshire’s ‘Three Peaks’, it stands as a magnificent tribute by local people to the Queen. It’s good that once again people can study the toposcope and learn the distances and directions to the surrounding peaks."

Don Gamble, Stories in Stone Manager, said: "We have delivered 170 projects but most of them have been in the valleys and settlements around the summit of Ingleborough so this project is literally a high point of the scheme! I’m sure the shelter will be appreciated by walkers for decades to come."