Skip to main content

Eyam Peak District - Saturday 8th June 2019


A lovely walk, but the blustery wind and the rain ever present in the air did its best to put us off. However the intrepid walkers from St Paul’s donned boots, rain jackets scarves and hats and set off from the car park near the museum. In the event, the solid downpours on the Manchester side of the Pennines left us alone.
Eyam is often referred to as the Plague Village. During the 17th century the villagers isolated themselves from the outside world as they were decimated by the dreadful disease that killed off whole families in quick succession.We saw the evidence of this as soon as we began to walk through the village as too many of the 17th century cottages have plaques listing the names of those who had died.

The walk took us out to the east of the village up a steep quiet road until we reached more open country. We were rewarded with wonderful views but also with the bleakness and isolation of the Riley Graves. As we began our descent to the River Derwent we could see Curbar Edge and Froggatt Edge in the distance. We then walked south along the river, having first looked at Froggatt bridge which has arches of unequal sizes.

We turned west away from the river and climbing upwards on footpaths we reached Stoney Middleton. This village is on a route to Sheffield and Chesterfield and many people think it looks gloomy from the road as they whizz through it. Approaching as we did, it emerges as a beautiful ancient village. We passed the ‘alleged’ Roman Baths before visiting the unusual Church of St Martin which is octagonal and one of only two such churches in the country. From the village it was a bit of a pull upwards to the Boundary Stone. During the Plague food was left here for the Eyam villagers to collect without contacting the ‘outside world’.

We were soon back in Eyam and the welcoming warmth (and Cakes!) of the Eyam tea rooms.
Eyam is well worth a visit as is Stoney Middleton.






Riley Graves

Froggat Bridge

Ramblers - quick break

Church of St Martin

View over Peak District


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Birtle - Saturday 11th February 2017

The first walk of the 2017 season started from the Pack Horse Inn, Birtle on the lower slopes of the Pennines above Heywood. On a cold wet windy Saturday we set off from the Inn to follow the road north on a long steady climb to the hamlet of Birtle where we then turned to follow the path along the edge of Ashworth Valley. Unfortunately from the top the views over Lancashire were obscured by cloud and mist but the views of the wooded valley with Cheesden Brook running through provided some compensation. We made a detour from the route to visit Nabs Wife the site of the former Tea room and weaving mill known as Kershaws Bridge. The site is now occupied by a private dwelling  although the old mill yard is still evident. From here we continued along the edge of the valley before turning to take the path across fields to return to the start point and a long leisurely lunch in the pub! Further information: http://www.packhorseinnbury.co.uk/about http://heywoodmonkey.blogspot.co....
Post a Comment
Read more

Ashworth and Norden - Saturday 10th November 2018

Ashworth and Norden, Rochdale. St Jame's Church, Ashworth A party of six set out from Norden, Rochdale for this 5 mile ramble through the local countryside.From the car park we turned into Black Pits Lane and very soon arrived at the footpath alongside Naden Brook. At the bridge next to remains of the old mill, we crossed the river, and then began the climb out of the valley to a farm track which leads up to the ancient church of St James Bamford and the former pub known as the Chapel House, which is now a private residence. Here we stopped to admire the old church with its interesting grave stones and the views across Lancashire to Manchester and Derbyshire. We then crossed the fields to the old schoolhouse before joining Ashworth Rd to take us down to Simpson and Gelder Cloughs. Unfortunately we found the road closed because of a landslide and we had to retrace our steps and take an alternative path down to the valley. Not wishing to miss out the scenery...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Saltscape Trail - Saturday 11th November 2017

A party of ten left the Lion Salt Works, Northwich on a fine November Saturday to explore the Saltscape Trail. The first part of the walk took us along the Trent & Mersey Canal for about a mile and at this point we crossed over the bridge and into Maybury Country Park. From here we followed the path along Budworth Mere to the Coffee Shop where we stopped and enjoyed a break in the warm sunshine. At this junction the route crossed fields but with all the recent rain, which had made the paths extremely muddy, we elected to follow the road to the Anderton Lift. Only a short walk but there is a  narrow bridge without footpath and caution should be exercised if following this route. However, we were able to join the canal again very quickly which took us directly to the Lift. Unfortunately the lift is not working at week-ends in winter and we were disappointed not to see the boats going up and down. The Visitor Centre is open but time did not permit a visit on this occasion. ...
Post a Comment
Read more