Month: February 2026

Trinity mysteries

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Burdett’s map of 1791 showing Trinity Chapel north of Brackenfield

The evocatively-named Coldharbour Lane runs along a ridge to High Oredish, and then becomes a holloway, dropping and twisting down to Brackenfield village. The views to the east are spectacluar, with Ogston Reservoir in the middle distance. Before the lane loses height, a public footpath is signed leading downhill though fields, then into a pine plantation. Here among the trees, are the ruins of Trinity Chapel, once Brackenfield’s church, despite being so far from the centre of the village.

The ruins in the trees

The chapel, well-built of dressed stone, was apparently a rebuild in the sixteenth century of an earlier structure, constructed as a monument to Hugh Willoughby’s wife. All that remains today are the stone walls and gable ends, but the interior was originally divided in half by a screen, which was taken, in 1857, to the new parish church at the other end of the village. After this opened the chapel was abandoned, although there is believed to have been a village pilgrimage to the site on Trinity Sunday (first Sunday after Pentecost), which was only discontinued in 1997.

Facing east

The obvious question is why a chapel was built here in the first place, so remote from people, today only accessible by a muddy footpath? But if we go back in time by removing the pine plantation, we have a site with spectacular views to the east, perhaps the ideal spot for a hermit to do whatever hermits do. And this is reinforced by the spring and drinking trough found by the path, the same water re-appearing at another trough by the road below. This supply would have been critical for any inhabitant, and in fact the village website claims that into the 1930s villagers had to walk to the roadside source in times of drought, since it was the only reliable well in the parish.

The chapel’s trough

Leaving the chapel, the footpath continues through a grassy field to the road to Ashover Hay. At the moment (late February) the path is edged with blue crocuses – not a native British flower – so planted by someone, for some reason. Mysterious …

Source: https://www.brackenfield.org/trinity-chapel-from-white-carr-lane

The (very) old roads

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The big beast – an Auroch

Just how old are the ‘old roads’? How were the first roads developed?

These questions are difficult to answer, but worth a try! The last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago, and the landscape of Britain must have gradually become more wooded as temperatures rose. Mammals would have arrived via the land bridge to the continent, including large beasts such as aurochs (early cattle), horses, deer and boar. These creatures are mainly herd animals, and would have travelled with the seasons, moving north in spring looking for fresh pasture and water, then south in autumn.

On alert

A herd of any large mammals would follow the easiest routes, avoiding the choking, dense growth in river valleys, and in doing so created channels of movement along the high ground. Their progress would hinder plant growth and so keep these routes open. They could drink from streams, but kept river crossings to a minimum, due to the risk of autumn floods. So when the first paleolithic (Old Stone Age) nomadic people arrived they must have followed these herds, both for the chance of making a kill and also because a proto-road offered the easiest route.

Some of the crags

The very rare cave art found at Cresswell Crags, on the north east Derbyshire border, portrays deer, elk, wolves, hyenas and bears, clearly suggesting that Stone Age man had a close relationship with these creatures. Today many of their prehistoric ridgeway routes are still in use, notably many sections of the Derbyshire Portway, the lane from Belper Lane End to Bolehill, the A61 from Higham to Clay Cross, and dozens more.

Spot the stag