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Traveller’s Tree
The yew tree in St Helen’s churchyard at Darley Churchtown is a well-known example of an ancient tree in a sacred setting. Growing near the west church porch, it is 33 feet in girth (which makes it hard to illustrate clearly), and is estimated to be 2,000 years old. Clearly it pre-dates the (twelfth-century) church,…
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Wayside worship
Altar to the Quadruviae in Germany For at least two thousand years European roads were marked by shrines and sanctuaries, giving travelers the chance to rest, make offerings and pray for a safe journey. The Romans dedicated some to well-known gods such as Hercules and Mars, but they also had divinities specific to travel: Biviae…
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Baslow and beyond
Driving on the busy A623 through Baslow today, it is easy to miss the medieval bridge next to St Anne’s church. Yet this was part of an important route in the eighteenth century: carrying the turnpike from Monsal Head to Chesterfield, while before then it carried packhorse traffic heading for East Moor and Sheffield. In…
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The mystery of the milestone
Walking near Tissington the other day I stopped for a drink of water, and propped my walking pole on what I took for an old gatepost, embedded in the rather ragged hedge. Then I realised it wasn’t a gatepost, but was inscribed on the side facing the lane. The inscription was finely carved, in serif…
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Love in the slow lane
Before the mid-twentieth century many homes were overcrowded, with a lack of privacy that would surprise younger people today. Furthermore, parents were often inclined to supervise their children’s indoor behaviour, so that most ‘courting’ took place out of doors, away from adult eyes. This applied equally to middle-class people: in the Hughes’ painting above a…
The Old Roads of Derbyshire 