Derbyshire: Widdershins
- Eleanor Conlon
- Apr 22
- 18 min read
Where is Derbyshire?
In our episodes about Derbyshire we talked about lots of interesting places and things, so here are some pictures and links if you're interested in finding out more!
The Dark Peak and the White Peak
The Dark Peak is the higher and wilder part of the Peak District in England, mostly forming the northern section but also extending south into its eastern and western margins. It is mainly in Derbyshire but parts are in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.
It gets its name because (in contrast to the White Peak), the underlying limestone is covered by a cap of Millstone Grit sandstones with softer shale underneath, meaning that in winter the soil is almost always saturated with water. The land is thus largely uninhabited moorland plateaux where almost any depression is filled with sphagnum bogs and black peat. The High Peak is an alternative name for the Dark Peak, but High Peak is also the name of an administrative district of Derbyshire which includes part of the White Peak.
The White Peak, also known as the Low Peak, is a limestone plateau that forms the central and southern part of the Peak District in England. It is mostly between 270 metres (900 ft) and 430 metres (1,400 ft) above sea-level and is enclosed by the higher altitude Dark Peak (also known as the High Peak) to the west, north and east.
Broadly speaking, the White Peak covers the Derbyshire and Staffordshire parts of the Peak District from the Hope Valley southwards to the Weaver Hills near the Churnet Valley. As defined by Natural England, the White Peak national character area covers 52,860 hectares (204 sq mi) and includes the area approximately bounded by Ashbourne, Buxton, Castleton, Matlock and Wirksworth.
Buxton Shoe Tree
Photograph by Gary Tacagni
The Buxton Boot Tree is an unusual sight, a tree adorned with old boots and shoes. It stands alongside the A515 road, capturing the curiosity of passersby and becoming a local legend.
The exact origin of the boot tree remains shrouded in mystery, but several theories exist. One popular belief is that travellers passing by would throw their old boots into the tree as a form of good luck or to mark their journey. Over time, this tradition transformed the tree into a quirky and unexpected roadside attraction.
While not ancient mythology, the Buxton Boot Tree has its own modern day folklore. Some locals claim that the tree possesses magical properties. They believe that hanging a boot in the tree brings good fortune and wards off bad luck. Others say that the boots represent lost souls or travellers who never returned, a haunting idea that adds to the tree’s mystique.
The boot tree isn’t maintained by any official authority; its a grassroots effort. Visitors continue to contribute by adding their old boots, shoes and even flip flops to the collection. The tree has become a symbol of community spirit and creativity.
The appearance of the tree evolves with the seasons. In spring and summer, it’s adorned with colourful footwear. During autumn, the leaves fall, revealing the boots more prominently. In winter, snow may dust the boots, creating a whimsical scene.
Tourists and photographers often stop to capture the unique spectacle. The Buxton Boot Tree has become an instagram worthy spot, attracting both locals and visitors.
The Boot Tree defies convention and celebrates individuality. It reminds that even in the mundane, there’s room for creativity, playfulness and a touch of magic.
B29 Bleaklow Bomber Crash Site
The Bleaklow Bomber was a US Air Force (USAF) Boeing RB-29A Superfortress that crashed near Higher Shelf Stones on Bleaklow in the Peak District in 1948. It was modified as a reconnaissance aircraft, rather than a bomber.
The aircraft crashed at Higher Shelf Stones on the Bleaklow moorland plateau near Glossop in Derbyshire on 3 November 1948. The aircraft was on a routine daytime flight with two other aircraft, leaving RAF Scampton near Lincoln at about 10:15 and heading to the US Air Force base at Burtonwood near Warrington. The pilot Captain Landon Tanner and co-pilot Captain Harry Stroud were flying by instruments as the area was covered in low cloud. Based on the flight time, the crew believed it had passed the hills and began to descend. At about 11:00 the aircraft hit the ground at 610m above sea level, 300m north east of the summit of Higher Shelf Stones and it was engulfed in flames.
All 11 crew and 2 military passengers perished in the crash. When the aircraft failed to arrive at the Burtonwood airbase, the nearby RAF Mountain Rescue Service was called to search for the missing aircraft. Already on a training exercise upon the Kinder Scout moors, the RAF Harpur Hill rescue team headed to Bleaklow and located the crash site at about 16:30, by which time the light was fading. The debris of the aircraft was scattered with only the tail section intact. The recovery of the occupants took place the following morning and their bodies were taken to Burtonwood. The aircraft was carrying the $7,400 wages for the Burtonwood airbase. The money survived the fire and was recovered at the crash site by the American Military Police
Derby Arboretum
Derby Arboretum, also informally known as Arboretum Park and The Arboretum, is famous for being Britain's first public park. It is picturesque with a fine collection of trees, and is Grade II* listed.
The Arboretum was the first specially designed urban park in Britain. Joseph Strutt commissioned and donated the park for the benefit of citizens of Derby in 1840. The intention was a botanical tree garden for instruction as well as leisure.
John Claudius Loudon designed, constructed and planted the gardens, while EB Lamb designed the two Tudor style lodges. Some of the trees are listed on the British Isles Tree Register, a catalogue of notable trees in the country recorded by the Forestry Commission.
Lombe's Mill
Lombe's Mill was the first successful silk throwing mill in Britain. It was built on an island on the River Derwent in Derby. It was built after John Lombe visited Piedmont in 1717 and returned to England with details of the Italian silk throwing machines – the filatoio and the torcitoio – and some Italian craftsmen. The architect was George Sorocold. At its height, the mill employed some 300 people.
Lombe's Mill was built next to Thomas Cotchett's 1704 mill on the west bank of the River Derwent in Derby. At this point a weir had been constructed across the river, and the mill was built on an island downstream which separated the river from the tail race of three corn mills. The tail race was also called a fleam or a leat. Derby was a key location as the river had a fast flow, and it was here that it was crossed by the London to Carlisle road.
Crich Tramway Village
The National Tramway Museum (trading as Crich Tramway Village) is an independent museum located at Crich,Derbyshire, England. The museums collections are designated as being of national importance and cover from the 1860s to the present day.
Many of the museums collection of trams are operational and run from a recreated period village containing a working pub, café, old-style sweetshop and tram depots out into the local countryside.
The museum is operated by the Tramway Museum Society, a registered charity which receives no statutory funding from the local authority or government.
Derwent Reservoir
Derwent Reservoir is the middle of three reservoirs in the Upper Derwent Valley in the north of Derbyshire, England. It lies approximately 10 mi (16 km) from Glossop and 10 mi (16 km) from Sheffield. The River Derwent flows first through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir and finally through Ladybower Reservoir. Between them they provide practically all of Derbyshire's water, as well as to a large part of South Yorkshire and as far afield as Nottingham and Leicester.
Derwent Reservoir is around 1.5 mi (2.4 km) in length, running broadly north–south, with Howden Dam at the northern end and Derwent Dam at the south. A small island lies near the Howden Dam. The Abbey Brook flows into the reservoir from the east.
During the Second World War, the reservoir was used by pilots of the 617 Squadron for practising the low-level flights needed for Operation Chastise (commonly known as the "Dam Busters" raids), due to its similarity to the German dams. Today there is a commemorative plaque to 617 Squadron on the dam, and one of the towers on the dam housed the Derwent Valley Museum. The exhibition now closed, was owned and run by the late Vic Hallam, and covered stories of 617 Squadron and its training for Operation Chastise. It also had a display on the history of the Derwent valley and the lost villages of Derwent and Ashopton.
Bakewell Pudding
Ingredients
320g sheet ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
150g butter
softened
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g ground almonds
1 lemon
zested
1 tsp almond extract
3 tbsp raspberry jam
25g flaked almonds
1 tbsp icing sugar
Method
Unravel the pastry and use it to line a 20cm cake or pie tin with sloped sides.
Trim the pastry, leaving about 2cm overhanging. Chill the pastry case while you prepare the filling. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl using an electric whisk for 2-3 mins until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, ground almonds, lemon zest, almond extract and a pinch of salt, then beat again until combined.
Remove the pastry case from the fridge and spread the jam over its base, then spoon in the almond and egg mixture, smoothing it to the edge using a spatula.
Scatter the flaked almonds on top and bake for 50 mins until golden brown.
Leave to cool for at least 30 mins, then dust with icing sugar and serve with cream or ice cream. Will keep in an airtight container for a few days.
Bakewell Tart
For those that only like a little icing, Mary's drizzled version of the classic Bakewell tart will be a hit at tea time.
Ingredients
For the shortcrust pastry
175g/6oz plain flour
75g/2½oz chilled butter
2–3 tbsp cold water
For the filling
3–4 tbsp raspberry jam
125g/4½oz butter
125g/4½oz caster sugar
125g/4½oz ground almonds
1 free-range egg, beaten
½ tsp almond extract
50g/1¾oz flaked almonds
For the icing
80g/2¾oz icing sugar
Method
To make the pastry, measure the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the water, mixing to form a soft dough.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface and use to line a 20cm/8in flan tin. Leave in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
Line the pastry case with kitchen foil and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for about 15 minutes, then remove the beans and foil and cook for a further 5 minutes to dry out the base.
For the filling, spread the base of the flan generously with raspberry jam.
Melt the butter in a pan, take off the heat and then stir in the sugar. Add ground almonds, egg and almond extract. Pour into the flan tin and sprinkle over the flaked almonds.
Bake for about 35 minutes. If the almonds seem to be browning too quickly, cover the tart loosely with foil to prevent them burning.
Meanwhile, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in 2½ teaspoons cold water and transfer to a piping bag.
Once you have removed the tart from the oven, pipe or drizzle the icing over the top, giving an informal zig zag effect.
Derby Gaol
The old "Derby Gaol" can be found under numbers 50 and 51 Friargate in Derby. It is said to be one of the most haunted spots in the country.
The jail ("gaol" is an old-fashioned variant of the word) was used between 1756 and 1828 and was originally (it's believed) two separate cell blocks - in fact, it's thought the facilities could continue under neighbouring properties, too).
It is now a museum and much of the jail has been restored to its former condition.
Whilst the jail was being worked on, clues were found as to what some of the cells may have been used for in the past. For example, marks on the inside of the door of the debtor's cell refer to money and amounts to be paid. There are gallows outside the entrance - a timely reminder of past events.
As well as guided tours, the owner, Richard Felix, also arranges "lock-ins" on some Friday and Saturday nights. Imagine sleeping where a condemned man may have spent his last night!
Winnat's Pass
Winnats Pass (or Winnats, as shown on some Ordnance Survey maps) is a hill pass and limestone gorge in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England. The name is a corruption of 'wind gates' due to the swirling winds through the pass. It lies west of the village of Castleton, in the National Trust's High Peak Estate and the High Peak borough of Derbyshire. The road winds through a cleft, surrounded by high limestone ridges. At the foot of the pass is the entrance to Speedwell Cavern, a karst cave accessed through a flooded lead mine, and which is a popular tourist attraction.
In the 1930s, Winnats Pass was the location used for annual access rallies in support of greater access to the moorlands or the Peak District, around the time of the Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout. At their peak these were attended by up to 10,000 people.
The permanent closure of the main A625 road at Mam Tor in 1979 due to subsidence has resulted in Winnats Pass being heavily used by road traffic. However, the narrowness of the road and its maximum gradient of over 28% has caused it to be closed to buses, coaches and vehicles over 7.5 tonnes (7.4 long tons; 8.3 short tons) in weight. The road regularly features in the Tour of the Peak cycle race each autumn.
Peak District National Park
At more than 550 squares miles and the UK’s original national park, the Peak District provides a taste of the outdoors to millions.
Considered by many as the spiritual home of the free access to the countryside we all enjoy today, the Peak District continues to provide a warm welcome to those seeking some of their first inspirational connections with nature.
The Hopton Axe
It was on farmland close to Hopton in 1953 that the oldest ‘made’ object to have been found in Derbyshire was discovered – subsequently named The Hopton Hand Axe.
Comparing this hand axe to similar ‘ovate’ hand axes (ovate referring the ovoid, or egg-like shape), the most recent advice is that this tool could be up to 350,000 years old.
Creswell Crags
Creswell Crags is a spectacular magnesian limestone gorge that straddles the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
It is dotted with a large number of caves, fissures and rock shelters, many of which harboured secrets from our Prehistoric past. Archaeologists have been excavating these caves since the 19th Century, when the Victorians first discovered the artefacts that lay beneath the cave floors.
So much material was excavated early on that many of today’s archaeologists now excavate the spoil heaps (rubbish dumps) of previous excavations to find any artefacts which were missed!
The Pinhole Cave Man and Other Discoveries
from Cheshire Now
The above bone, carved with a horse's head, known as the Robin Hood Cave Horse (previously known as the Ochre Horse) was found in Robin Hood's Cave at Cresswell Crags. It is now housed in the British Museum. A replica of the artifact is displayed at the Creswell Crags Visitor Centre.
The tooth of a Machairodus or sabre-toothed cat was found at the same time.
An engraving of a human figure on a woolly rhinoceros rib bone, known as the Pinhole Cave Man, was discovered the Pin Hole Cave in 1928 by the archaeologist A. L. Armstrong. This carving dates to the Upper Palaeolithic and is about 12,000 years old, it is now also kept at the British Museum.
The carving is 5 cm tall, the whole bone measures 20.8 cm long. The man may be wearing a mask, or he is just depicted with a protruding nose and jaw. He has legs that appear incomplete, a crooked back, and a long engraved line across his upper body.
Other worked bone items along with the remains of a wide variety of prehistoric animals, including mammoth, lynx, bear, deer and hyena, have been found at the caves in excavations from 1876 to the present day.
Stones Circles, Nine Ladies, and Robin Hood's Stride
Stone Circles are often associated with Druids and pagan ceremonies like sacrifices. The Peak District stone circles date back to the Bronze Age and earlier. That means Druids were not the builders, however, it is possible they used the stone circles of the Peak.
Many of the Peak District circles have been vandalised over the years, for example the fire set round the Kings Stone on Stanton Moor which cracked it. Some of the circles may not actually be stone circles, and could be the remains of the kerbs of barrows.
Peveril Castle
The ruins of Peveril Castle stand isolated on a rocky hilltop in the Derbyshire Peaks, one of the most dramatically sited castles in England.
Throughout its history, from the 11th to the 16th century, Peveril Castle served as a base for the government of the local area, the ‘Forest of the Peak’.
The town of Castleton, at the foot of castle hill, was founded 100 years after the castle.
Bolsover Castle
Perched on a ridge high above the Vale of Scarsdale, on the site of a medieval fortress, Bolsover Castle is an extraordinary 17th-century aristocratic retreat.
The exquisite ‘Little Castle’ has remarkable wall paintings and interiors, and the Riding House is the earliest such building in England to survive complete.
The castle was founded in the late 11th century by William Peveril, one of William the Conqueror's knights, but it was neglected from the mid-14th century.
Its ruins provided the setting for the Little Castle begun in 1612 by Sir Charles Cavendish as a retreat from his principal seat at Welbeck, a few miles away.
Hardwick Hall
Hardwick’s history is closely associated with the lady who built it, born Elizabeth Hardwick, who became Countess of Shrewsbury, known to many simply as ‘Bess of Hardwick’.
Born on the site of Hardwick Old Hall, Bess rose to a position of great power within Elizabethan society.
The very fact that Hardwick was built is a sure sign of Bess' wealth, power and ambition.
The audacious architectural design and materials used, alongside the lavish interior, were chosen by Bess to impress and they continue to do so today.
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth comprises a Grade I listed house and stables, a 105-acre garden, a 1,822-acre park, a farmyard and adventure playground, and one of Europe’s most significant private art collections.
It has been home to sixteen generations of the Devonshire family for nearly five centuries. Each has contributed to its careful evolution and preservation, creating the house, garden, estate, and collections we enjoy today.
Haddon Hall
Haddon Hall, the private residence of Lord and Lady Edward Manners, is set in the Peak District in the valley of the River Wye. With nine hundred years of history, it is one of the oldest houses in the country and moreover one of the only houses in England to have remained in one family’s ownership for its entire existence.
Haddon is unique as it remained empty for nearly two hundred years. This extraordinary period, when time stood still in the Hall, allowed it to remain unaltered during the modernising period of the Georgians and Victorians. So venturing into Haddon is like stepping back in time, since from the 1700s the Dukes of Rutland preferred to live at their main seat, Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire.
The Medieval Banqueting Hall remains furnished with its original Dais table, behind which hangs a tapestry gifted to the family by visiting Henry VIII. The Parlour boasts its glorious Tudor painted ceiling of Tudor roses and marvellous heraldic paneling.
Exquisite and very rare 15th century fresco seccos adorn the walls of the Medieval Chapel.
In contrast to the Tudor and Medieval Rooms below, the light and airy first floor Elizabethan rooms culminate in the spectacular 110ft Robert Smythson designed Long Gallery; reputed to be one of the most beautiful rooms in England.
Eyam
The plague came to Eyam in the summer of 1665, possibly in a bale of cloth brought up from London. The people in the house where it came to caught the disease and died in a short space of time. Before long, others had caught the disease and also died, after a short and very painful illness. It spread rapidly.
The local rector, The Rev. William Mompesson, and his predecessor, led a campaign to prevent the disease spreading outside the village to the surrounding area. This involved the people of the village remaining in the village and being supplied with necessary provisions by people outside.
There is still on the outskirts of the village a location called the Boundary stone, where traditionally, money was placed in small holes for the provisions which those from the local area brought for the villagers. As a result of this action, the disease did not spread but almost a third of the villagers died.
Interestingly some of the villagers who were in contact with those who caught the plague, did not catch it. This was because they had a chromosome which gave them protection. This same chromosome has been shown to still exist in those who are direct descendants of those who survived the plague, and who are still living in the village at the present time.
The action of the villagers in staying in the village is almost unique and makes the village the place of significance that it is.
Derwent Valley Mills
The Derwent Valley Mills are the birthplace of the factory system. It was for this reason that they were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001.
It was in the Derwent Valley that – thanks to pioneering work by Richard Arkwright, Jedidiah Strutt, the Lombe brothers and others – the essential ingredients of factory production were successfully combined.
Water Power was applied and successfully used for the first time on a relatively large scale. Not only was silk throwing and cotton spinning revolutionised with dramatic consequences for the British economy, the Arkwright model system also informed and inspired developments in other countries and industries.
The fact that the further development of urban-based cotton mill technology happened in Lancashire rather than Derbyshire meant the early mills in the Derwent Valley were not redeveloped, so visitors can enjoy visiting remarkable early industrial buildings and their communities in an unspoilt landscape setting.
The Longdendale Lights
The Longdendale Valley stretches through the Peak District for 15 miles with two peaks either side known as Shining Clough and Bleaklow. The area is seriously isolated and despite a few major roads, requires mostly scrambling through on foot.
The area has been a hotspot for ghostly encounters and haunting happenings for many, many years with the two most prominent and recurring stories revolving around both the Longdendale Lights and Longdendale Ghost Bomber.
Old Tup
'Tup’ is a dialect word meaning an uncastrated male sheep. The origins of The Derby Tup are, like much folklore, shrouded in mystery. It made an appearance in a folk song published in 1867 in Llewellyn Jewitt’s The Ballads of Derbyshire; a song of considerable black comedy and hyperbole.
At some unknown point the ballad expanded into a short guising play revolving around the killing of the Tup.
The play features recurring characters: the Man, Our Owd Lass (the Man’s wife), the Butcher and the Tup itself, sometimes accommodating extra characters depending on the size of the team.
This would be performed around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, usually by adolescent boys, in local pubs and clubs, in the streets and house visiting door to door, and a collection taken after the performance.
Hobs
In England, the hob is a good-natured goblin who helps house maids with their early morning chores (in other words, he’s a relative of the brownie); he is, in addition, a nocturnal sprite and he’s associated with boggles in the north of England and, more widely, with Robin Goodfellow.
Typically, hobs or hobthrusts are associated with houses and farms, but the burial mound called Hob Hurst’s House on Baslow Moor in Derbyshire demonstrates that long-standing faery link with ancient sites and dead ancestors.
Boggarts
A Boggart is a type of a hobgoblin or ghost; a supernatural being of English folklore, very mischievous, sly, and annoying: often invoked to frighten children. Threats of being thrown into some black “boggart-hole” are usually enough to silence the expression of any childish woe!
The boggart is full of tricks and devilment but seldom works serious harm. Sometimes he walks through the rooms at night, twitches the covers off sleeping people, or raps loudly on the door and never comes in or answers.
Sometimes he rearranges the furniture so that people who have to get up in the dark bump into it; or sometimes he lays the baby gently on the floor, just to astonish its parents who find it safely sleeping there in the morning.
The boggart of Staining Hall (near Blackford) was the uneasy ghost of a murdered Scotchman; the boggart of Hackensall Hall lived in the shape of a horse who was a willing worker as long as he was catered to. The people even built him a fire to lie by on cold nights, and if he did not get it he complained loudly, or refused to work.
Arbor Low and Gib Hill Barrow
Arbor Low is a well-known and impressive prehistoric monument, sometimes referred to as ‘the Stonehenge of the North’, owing to its henge bank and ditch, stone circle and cove.
It bears more of a passing resemblance (though on a smaller scale) to that other great Neolithic monument, Avebury, in Wiltshire.
Arbor Low and Gib Hill form one of the most impressive complexes of prehistoric monuments in the Peak District. Nevertheless, there have been no excavations on either site for more than 100 years, and our understanding of their date, function and sequence of building is far from complete.
By comparing them with better-studied sites elsewhere, however, it is possible that the Neolithic barrow at Gib Hill was the first element, perhaps followed by the bank and ditch of Arbor Low.
The barrow over the henge ditch and the round barrow at Gib Hill are undoubtedly later features, as may be the stone circle and cove within the henge monument. It is important to remember that these monuments are the cumulative result of episodes of use that may have continued for more than 1,000 years, perhaps from about 2500 to 1500 BC.
All the earthworks are substantial and they would have taken a considerable time to build. Perhaps the co-operative acts of construction were as socially important as the monuments themselves.
High on the false crest of a limestone ridge, Arbor Low would have been visible for many miles around – although the view of whatever took place inside it would have been restricted to those standing by the bank.
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