Welcome to my Old Roads of Derbyshire website and blog!
You can sample my book on the history of roads, travel and travellers in Derbyshire, then browse through over a hundred posts on these and related subjects. There are posts on everything from prehistoric burial sites beside ancient routes, to the twentieth-century ramblers who helped preserve ancient footpaths. Enjoy exploring my website and the paths of Derbyshire!
The Old Roads of Derbyshire
Derbyshire has a wealth of old roads, lanes, tracks, hollow ways and paths, some dating back thousands of years. It is a network which links a fascinating variety of sometimes enigmatic monuments, from fortified hilltops and stone circles to ruined abbeys and hermitages, ancient churches and tumuli.
The Old Roads of Derbyshire traces the development of these roads, from prehistoric ridgeways, Roman ‘streets’ and medieval pilgrimage routes to the growth of the turnpikes, and finally to leisure use by cyclists and hikers. Travellers of all kind are included: ‘jaggers’ with their packhorse trains, pilgrims, drovers, pedlars and tramps, and passengers in stage coaches and wagons, as well as the essential infrastructure of bridges and inns.
Latest blog post
- Phantom platform 2
Platform 2, with footbridge Trains no longer stop at platform 2, Whatstandwell station, for the very good reason that there are no railway tracks beside it. In fact, since the line was demoted in the Beeching era, the route has been single track from Matlock to Belper, whereas before that it was the main line from Derby to Manchester. However, recently a smart new flight of steel steps has been added to the platform, which would give access to the footbridge if there was no locked gate at the top. In fact, the footbridge allows passengers to link up with the Cromford Canal or a twitchel leading to Main Road.
The main attraction? So why install a shiny new, and presumably very expensive footbridge on a defunct platform? The answer, apparently, is to provide access for the volunteers who tend the flower beds, above. Of course, it’s wonderful that folk contribute their time to help keeping the station spruce, but I do wonder why they couldn’t just walk over the tracks, for free? Given that there are only two trains per hour, both of which stop at Platform 1, ‘elf ‘n safety’ is hardly a threat. Or perhaps the much-discussed plan to reopen the line beyond Matlock is already being implemented?
As it was … a southbound train at Monsal
The Old Roads of Derbyshire 