After reaching Cressbrook Mill as described in One Morning in the Month of May I started on the return half of the walk. I walked uphill to reach this rather impressive memorial seat ...
According to a page on the Sole Society website the stone plaque reads
"Charles Edward Solly for 8 years in charge of Cressbrook Mill.
Died 5th
January 1898 aged 33 years"
He had been the manager at Cressbrook Mill but died in his early 30s.
I've heard it said that it was placed half way up the hill so the millworkers could have a break on their way up to the village of Cressbrook. I had to make that climb too ...
Eventually I turned off the road onto a narrow woodland path running between dog mercury and wild garlic ...
A track leads to Ravensdale Cottage with a view of the far side of the dale ...
Ravensdale Cottages were originally lived in by millworkers. I always have to take a photograph here ...
On the opposite side of the path from the cottages there is usually a spectacular display of wild garlic ...
The lower part of Cressbrook Dale is well wooded and largely different shades of green in Springtime ...
I passed through a stile into English Nature's reserve and enjoyed the birdsong ...
The dale opens out a little later and I spotted the first signs of lead mining in the valley ...
Above Cressbrook Dale is Peep o' Day Cottage which you can just pick out in the photograph below. What a fantastic view they must have ...
Before you get near the cottage though another path takes off to the left into Tansley Dale ...
Part way up Tansley Dale I turned around to look back down into Cressbrook Dale ...
Many visitors to the Peak District and Derbyshire Dales [which overlap to some extent] are amazed by our walls. We like walls up here ...
A well used path [one of a number of options hereabouts] leads across a field towards Litton village ...
... it leads right up to a cottage ...
There will be some who hate the thought of a footpath being that close to their house. Well, they should never buy a cottage or a house like that because the chances are that the path was there before the house.
In Litton itself I was amused by this sign ...
Outside the Red Lion is a seat with a memorial plaque on it ...
So I did ...
After the pint and the nuts I walked past Litton Cross out of the village ...
A path underneath a line of beech trees took me back to the car ...
A short walk packed full of interest.
This walk was followed on the 6th May 2011
Length of walk ~ 5.74 miles *
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 172.54 miles
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 6th May 2011 ~ 694.28 miles
39 of 2011 [which means in 2011 I was averaging approximately 4.42 miles a walk.]
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap
Length of walk ~ 5.74 miles *
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 172.54 miles
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 6th May 2011 ~ 694.28 miles
39 of 2011 [which means in 2011 I was averaging approximately 4.42 miles a walk.]
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap
Nice to hear the birdsong, I like your "green" walks. Now I have a question... why all those walls?
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed this Diane. As for why all those walls ... well, stone wasn't short and it lasts longer than fences so that's the way the landowners defined the extent of their fields hereabouts. There are so many around here. According to the Peak District National Park's Conservation Area Appraisal [2008] :
Delete"When entering or leaving the village [Litton] along Hall Lane, to the south of the village, the settlement appears quite exposed and the medieval strip fields with their limestone boundary walls provide a wide and striking foreground to the settlement."
So whilst most of our fields are probably dated from the 1750s or later, the ones I pictured in Litton are dated from medieval times though whether the walls are quite that old I doubt.
I would get so terribly lost that it wouldn't be funny. They'd need to send a rescue team. I'm glad that you have no such problem ... and I also love your green walks.
ReplyDeleteThe paths are usually so clear and the maps so good that I am sure you would be fine Pet :-)
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed this walk ...
Lovely - I like your comments about footpaths, and the sat nav sign is great, too!
ReplyDeleteThank you Alison ~ I'm glad you agree with my take on footpaths. Not everyone does. I've seen a few of these satnav signs over the years ~ not always the same as this of course.
DeleteI felt as if I was on the walk with you Charlie,really enjoyable as I have never walked down Cressbrook Dale.As for the stone walls that was my subject at art class today,I really love them.Ann
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it Ann ~ have you been to the National Stone Centre at Wirksworth ? There are examples of six or seven [possibly more] different types of wall.
DeleteYes Charlie we have been there,I found it very interesting, I find myself looking for different styles of walls when we travel around.Ann
DeleteI notice that just a few miles from us around Old Brampton and Linacre that they use very thin stones which I like but it's rather different from the larger stones they use in the walls on say Beeley Moor.
DeleteA wonderful walk in a beautiful area. This is one I'd really enjoy, particularly the more rugged terrain at Tansley Dale. Lovely little cottages at Ravensdale. I wouldn't mind living there. Had to laugh at the sat-nav sign. I guess they get a lot of folks ending up down there!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it Mitch. The sign is on a short stretch of access road that runs parallel to the main village street and, yes, I guess they have had large vehicles trying to go along it rather than on the main street. I bet they've had some fun !
DeleteAmazing they are still holding and how much work the people did put in those walls.
ReplyDeleteTHey have to be repaired from time to time Diane but it probably depends on how well they were built. I have heard stories that Napoleonic prisoners of war were used to build some [or perhaps rebuild some]. When you think of the work involved getting the stone from the quarry, carting it and then building it ... it is quite amazing.
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