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Hemlocked
The Hemlock Stone on Stapleford Hill west of Nottingham is a sandstone pillar about five metres high, set in parkland. The name suggests that it may have acted as a boundary marker between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and it is found near the Portway’s crossing of the Erewash (the county boundary). It seems to have had…
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Reinventing the wheel?
The wheel is often cited as a critical invention in the development of our civilisation, and today wheels are so abundant it is difficult to imagine life without them. Yet they arrived in Britain relatively late – Stonehenge was built by a wheel-less society. The earliest wheel found so far, in Flagg Fen in Cambridgeshire,…
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Salt
Saltways in central and northern Derbyshire (Dodd & Dodd, 1980) Today salt is cheap and easily available, so it’s easy to overlook its vital importance in the past. It was critical for the agricultural economy, since before freezers were available it was used to preserve the meat that had to be stored over the winter,…
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Bilberry crumble?
Writers of Matlock tourist guides in the nineteenth century described megalithic remains on Riber Hill, above Starkholmes, which are variously labelled dolmen, cromlech and rocking stone, and appear to have been four large stones, one balanced on another. But there was no trace of these a hundred years ago, and they appear to have been…
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Harboro’ highlife?
Harboro’ Rocks seen from the High Peak Trail A couple of miles west of Wirksworth, just above the High Peak Trail, Harboro’ Rocks are a distinctive limestone outcrop rising to 379 metres. The summit offers a splendid view of Carsington Water to the south and the Via Gellia valley to the north, while providing practice…
The Old Roads of Derbyshire 