Along the old Duke's Road

This week we met outside the Plough in Low Bradfield to the north of Sheffield.

We would be returning here for some of its excellent Farmer's Blonde ale - but more of that anon; we had a twelve and a half mile hike before we were allowed such refreshment!


Dave, our leader today, marched us up to High Bradfield - it was formerly known as Kirkton - and here he gave us a potted history of the villlage including how it grew up around the church and the motte and bailey castle (see last week's blog for details of motte and bailey castles)

The parish church, St Nicholas Church, is in the Gothic Perpendicular style and dates from the 1480s. It incorporates elements of an earlier church that may have been built in the 12th century.

This unusual building is the Watch House - it was built in 1745 to allow relatives of the deceased to watch over the graveyard and apprehend body snatchers. Very few other buildings of this type now exist in Britain. In the 18th century, newly buried bodies risked being disinterred to be sold to medical schools for the study of anatomy. As stealing a corpse was only punishable by a fine or imprisonment, rather than transportation or execution, body snatchers found it sufficiently profitable to run the risk. The Anatomy Act of 1832 ended the trade by allowing bodies to be donated to medical schools.

View over Low Bradfield from St Nicholas's Church

Agden Reservoir - on route to The Duke's Road

The track is named after the Duke of Norfolk, who owned large parcels of land in this area. It is likely the track was used to allow access for grouse shooting, although it probably followed an earlier ancient route over the moors. G.H.B Ward, the well-known Sheffield rambler, once described the walk over the Duke of Norfolk’s road as the ‘wildest Yorkshire moorland walk south of Wharfedale.’ 

It was also the scene of a mass trespass in September 1932, when 200 ramblers walked from Bradfield to Abbey Brook in protest against the lack of public access to the moors. Since the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, there has been open access to much of the moor

Dave had forewarned us that the going would be a bit boggy at times ...

... but it also got a bit foggy

After a brief lunch in the shelter of some weathered rocks we headed towards Derwent Edge

Chris considered whether he should leap, gazelle-like, across this ravine to the trig point at Back Tor - but decided against it

Andy found a much safer route to the trig point - flush bracket number 2145 and joint 471st in the "triggy charts" for those of you with an interest in such matters

Dave needed a quick check that we were still on course ...

... and he reliably told us as we turned east back towards Bradfield that "it was all downhill from here"

Strines reservoir which was constructed in 1871. It is the smallest of the reservoirs in Bradfield Dale with a capacity of 453 million gallons. The name Strines may derive from the Old English word ‘strynds’ or ‘strinds’, meaning a rivulet or stream

Boot's Folly, also known occasionally as Strines Tower or Sugworth Tower, overlooks Strines reservoir. It was constructed in 1927 by Charles Boot who resided at nearby Sugworth Hall. The 45-foot-high square tower with castellated top and flag pole was built from left over stone when the nearby Bents House was constructed. The Folly was constructed to provide work for Sugworth Hall’s workmen during The Depression. Today the interior is bare but it originally had wood panelling and a spiral staircase, the staircase was removed some years ago after a cow climbed the stairs and became stuck.

Then on to Dale Dike reservoir - site of the Great Sheffield Flood

In 1864, the newly-built dam burst, causing the Great Sheffield Flood, which caused massive damage downstream along the rivers Loxley and Don and through the centre of Sheffield. Around 250 people lost their lives. The dam was rebuilt in 1875 on a smaller scale and holds 446 million gallons of water. Below the dam is a stone engraved C.L.O.B. (centre line old bank), which marks where the original dam wall would have stood, and a flood memorial stone erected in 1991 by Bradfield Historical Society to commemorate those drowned. Thornseat House was built after the disaster to house the Chief Engineer of the Sheffield Water Company so that he could oversee the reconstruction of the dam.

An old friend re-visited

It was just under a year ago that our group was introduced to the splendour and challenge that is Chrome Hill.

 
For my first walk as leader this year, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to re-visit our "old friend" - but this time from afar. We met, as we did last year, outside what used to be the Market Hall in Longnor.

Regular readers of this blog may recall that Longnor - which sits high on the Staffordshire Moorlands with the river Dove to the east and the river Manifold to the west - was once a market centre for the region and has a little cobbled market square and a Victorian market hall which dates back to 1873. However, Longnor's ambition to be a thriving market town was hindered by the demise of the turnpikes and its lack of a railway link.

Our route took us out towards High Wheeldon - another challenging climb which we tackled last year. However, this time we turned towards Crowdecote (a corruption of Cruda’s Cot - Cruda was a Saxon landowner, and a cot is a form of shelter) and then onto Pilsbury Castle.

Dave had done some considerable research on this castle. He told us that it occupies an area of high ground approximately 175 yards by 150 yards overlooking the River Dove, near the village of Pilsbury. The castle was probably originally an Iron Age fortification before being used by the Normans, and indeed the name "Pilsbury Castle" forms from the Celtic "pil", the Saxon "bury" and the Norman "castle", all meaning "fortified site".

The Normans built a substantial motte-and-bailey castle on the site. Dave explained that a motte in French is a raised mound in the form of a small, often artificial hill and topped with a wooden or stone structure known as a keep. A bailey is an enclosed courtyard, typically surrounded by a wooden fence called a palisade which would be overlooked by the motte.

Stuart was amazed at Dave's expertise - some of which was undoubtedly gleaned from this excellent website:

All you could possibly want to know about Pilsbury Castle

The view back towards Chrome Hill was superb - it seems to have its own sunny micro-climate.
 
Chris then decided that he wanted to have his photo taken in a "non-pose" position on the peak immediately overlooking the castle. Despite several attempts to look as if he wasn't posing, this is the best I can offer

I tried to catch him "unawares" on a few more occasions on the walk - with varying success - judge for yourselves

We lunched at Hartington by the side of the Stanner Pond. According to the English Place-Name Society the name of the village derives from the Old English for 'Stags' hill'

Over lunch we participated in a student survey about why we had come to Hartington and what we thought of the village - nice to think that we have done our little bit for the education of Britain's youth.

Hartington was mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers and being worth forty shillings. In more recent times it is probably more well-known for its cheesemaking. The former creamery in the village, often called the cheese factory, was founded by the Duke of Devonshire in the 1870s; it was one of the three sources of Stilton, and also produced its own unique Dovedale cheese and others such as Buxton Blue cheese and Shropshire Blue.

John M. Nuttall expanded the cheesemaking business and in the 1920's obtained a Royal Warrant to supply Blue Stilton to King George V and it became known as The Kings Stilton. Because of this the cheese became world famous and the demand increased. John also obtained a Certification Trade Mark which confined the legal production of Blue Stilton to the three neighbouring counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The cheese factory closed in 2009 but the famous Cheese Shop has re-opened and is run by a local family.

Stuart proudly telling Andy about his Shropshire Blue ...

 ... and a nonchalant Chris with his Stilton.

We headed back to Longnor on the ManifoldTrail

 Recent rain made the going a bit boggy at times

 ... Dave showed that he was definitely no stick in the mud - in fact he's got two!

We then adjourned to one of our favourite pubs - The Royal Oak at Sparklow - where we sampled some excellent Whim Ales, which is brewed by Whim Brewery based in Hartington (it began brewing in 1993 at Whim Farm).
 

Half term in Kendal

Where better to spend February half term than in South Lakeland?

Kendal Castle is situated on a mound-like hill, known as a drumlin, to the east of the town. It was probably built in the late 12th century as the home of the Lancaster family who were Barons of Kendal.

The best known family associated with the castle was the Parr family; including Queen Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII of England. Her family had lived at Kendal since her ancestor Sir William Parr married the heiress of Kendal, Elizabeth Ros, during the reign of Edward III of England. By the time Catherine Parr was born, the family had long deserted the castle which was already falling into disrepair.

Views over Kendal and then looking north
 

Then a short walk along the Kent and some "synchronised eating"

The following day we went on a ten mile walk from Staveley up Potter Fell

Starting at the weir near Staveley's Church, we set off to climb Brunt Knott via Elfhowe and Ghyll Bank

Potter Fell has four major summits, two of which are Brunt Knott and Ulgraves.

Looking east towards Whiteside Pike

We lunched near Nether House Farm

View over Kendal from Potter Fell

There are a number of tarns on Potter Fell, including Gurnal Dubs - a popular place for recreational fishing

Potter Tarn supplies water to Croppers Paper Mill in Burneside and its flow is moderated by a concrete dam.

Our destination was Bowston Hall Farm - and a welcome cup of tea

This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the "new" school building. The original school building was approaching a hundred years old and in need of maintenance and repair.

In the early 60's a new school building had been under discussion for some time. Mr A H Willink had left a legacy for a new church school in the village. On 20th June 1962 a service was held on the new site for the school to commemorate the laying of the foundation stone by Miss Margaret Cunningham. The building was completed and officially opened on 14th June 1963.

Hawkshead Brewery was founded, by Alex Brodie, in July 2002, in a 17th century barn at Town End Farm, at the head of Esthwaite Water, just outside Hawkshead, on a second hand 7 barrel brew plant which came from the Border Brewery at Berwick-upon-Tweed.

However  the brewery grew so fast that in 2006 they had to move across the lake (Windermere) to Staveley, at the foot of the Kentmere Valley.

The brewery's "brew length" - the quantity that can be produced per brew - is twenty 36 gallon barrels. Their capacity has increased from 30 barrels a week to 180 barrels of beer per week. 

Further details can be found at Hawkshead Brewery

Overall, a very enjoyable half term break