Month: January 2024

Foul deeds in the wild Winnats

On By SteveIn Places, Road users2 Comments
The sunny side of Winnats

Travel has always been seen as a risky undertaking, the dangers ranging from dirty sheets and greedy innkeepers to wild animal attacks and highway robbery. Poor roads were (and still are) probably more of a threat to life and limb than highwaymen, but some of these became notorious in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, famed for their supposed style and cool demeanour on the gallows. Characters such as ‘Swift Nick’ (John Nevison) became folk heroes who allegedly displayed a kind of gallantry while robbing the wealthy coach passengers.

Up to no good

There are few references to such characters in Derbyshire history, presumably because an impoverished area like this had few travellers worth robbing. The majority of these ‘gentlemen of the road’ lay in wait on the outskirts of London, whence travellers might be carrying cash or other valuables, or en route to the Channel ports. The main period of robbery seems to have been from post-Civil War (about 1650) to early in the nineteenth century. Apparently better roads, more traffic and some attempts at policing diminished enthusiasm for ‘your money or your life’.

Not a robber in sight: Looking to Mam Tor from Castleton

However, one crime on Peak District roads is widely remembered: a double murder in the Winnats, then as now a steep-sided pass running west from Castleton. In 1758 a young couple, Allen and Clara, had eloped and were heading for Peak Forest Chapel where they could be married without banns. The legend is that she came from a wealthy family who had forbidden the match. While refreshing themselves at a Castleton inn they were observed by a group of lead miners, who noticed their smart clothing and suspected they were carrying cash. When the pair resumed their journey they were followed and attacked; both were killed and £200 stolen from them. Their bodies were then hidden in a cave and not discovered for ten years. The story has a highly moral ending: the last surviving murderer confessed on his deathbed, and all the others met evil ends. Although the details vary and may seem unlikely (£200 was a huge amount at the time, equal to over £20,000 today) the persistence of the story suggests some factual basis. Its evolution has been analysed in an academic article published in the journal Folklore: Murders in the Winnats Pass: Evolution of a Peak District Legend by Mark Henderson (2010).

‘There is not a finer county in England than Derbyshire’

On By SteveIn People, PlacesLeave a comment

Jane Austen 1775-1817

A significant tourist industry has grown up around Jane Austen and Derbyshire. It is often claimed that she visited the county in 1811, stayed at the Rutland Arms in Bakewell, looked around Chatsworth and based Mr Darcy’s fictional house of Pemberley on this model. At least one film of Pride and Prejudice has used Chatsworth as a setting. However, there is no actual evidence that Jane ever visited the county, let alone wrote about it.

As it was – could this have been Pemberley?

In Pride and Prejudice the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, is taken on a tour of the Peak District by her aunt and uncle. There is mention of Matlock, Chatsworth, Dovedale and the Peak as being the main attractions. They base themselves in ‘Lambton’, often taken to be Bakewell, from where Pemberley is a three-mile drive. When they visit the house its setting makes a positive impression on Elizabeth: ‘…it was a large handsome stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high, woody hills – and in front a stream of some natural importance is swelled into greater …’ . This description has encouraged the identification with Chatsworth, but there are three objections to the theory. First, as mentioned above, there’s no record of her visiting the area, second the description of the house is generic, and could apply to many mansions from this period. Landscape fashion from the eighteenth century had created dozens of similar park-like vistas and Austen would have seen engravings such as the one above. Finally Pride and Prejudice, although only published in 1813, was largely written in 1797, 11 years before her supposed visit to the county.

A post-chaise

The search for originals of fictional people and places is quite pointless, since it assumes that authors have no powers of invention. More interesting is the light that the story sheds on early tourists in the Peak. Even if she had never visited Derbyshire, Austen was well aware of the tourist sights, which wealthy travellers could best enjoy by hiring a chaise, a small light carriage for two or three people. Complete with driver, this would cost about a guinea a day, roughly £100 in modern money.

The ridgeway rumpus

On By SteveIn Prehistory1 Comment
The road(s) to Buxton

The OS map of the area north of Newhaven shows how popular this route has been for transport: the modern A515 follows the line of the eighteenth-century turnpike; the Midshires Way runs along the route of the Cromford and High Peak Railway, while the Roman road (The Street) runs a little to the east of this. All of these are following the high ridge between Newhaven and Buxton, avoiding the valleys on either side. It seems a classic example of a ridgeway, which have been generally seen as long-distance travel routes, with well-known examples in the south of England such as the Icknield Way, running south west from Norfolk towards Avebury, the western section now simply called ‘The Ridgeway’.

Walking the Ridgeway

It is suggested that ridgeway routes were developed in prehistoric times for long-distance travel, since their route involved fewer descents into boggy river valleys, while higher ground was less densely wooded and gave travelers a better view of landmarks ahead. Moreover, there seem to be many prehistoric remains such as hillforts or tumuli near these routes, further justifying their existence. In many cases the Romans seem to have taken over these routes and engineered them to their standards. However, other prehistorians claim that the ridgeways which have survived owe their survival to being in remote upland areas, and that modern aerial photography shows evidence of wide prehistoric settlement, not only on the higher ground. Some also argue that there is no evidence that the ridgeways are prehistoric, and may well be medieval.

Minninglow, visible for miles around

In view of this debate it is worth looking at the line of the Roman road from Brassington to Buxton, part of which is shown on the map above. Not only are there many tumuli along the way – ancient burial mounds – but also a large number of ‘lows’: Slipper Low, Minninglow, Aleck Low, Arbor Low, Great Low, Brierlow and others. ‘Low’ is derived from Anglo-Saxon ‘hlaw’ meaning (confusingly) ‘high place’, and again was the site of burials, as can be seen at Minninglow. Added to the proximity of the Arbor Low henge – one of the largest in England – the evidence for a prehistoric date for this route appears convincing.

NB: Today there are hardly any rights of way along the Roman road, but the route can be roughly followed from the High Peak Trail.