Here you will find the archive of all my published blogs.
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Completing fishermen
Charles Cotton (1630-1687) was the owner of (the now demolished) Beresford Hall in Beresford Dale, on the upper reaches of the River Dove. As a Royalist sympathiser he found it…
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Unwillingly to school …
Today few young children walk to primary school alone, for a variety of reasons including parental perceptions of danger. In fact, the image of mum in a large Range Rover…
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Mr Burdett, map maker and …
Peter and Hannah Peter Perez Burdett (c.1734-1793) is a fascinating example of an eighteenth-century artist, surveyor, amateur scientist and … serial debtor! His map of Derbyshire (1767) is the first…
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Goodbye to another pub?
The Jug and Glass at Lea Green, pictured above, is the latest in a long list of Derbyshire pubs that have closed in recent years. Just in the Matlock area…
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A wandering minstrel I …
There is plenty of evidence that minstrels travelled around the country in the Middle Ages, performing in halls and taverns, and at fairs. But very little is known of the…
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On the road to Dale
Compared with neighbouring Yorkshire, Derbyshire has hardly any visible remains of its abbeys. Even the location of Darley Abbey in Derby is uncertain, while Dale Abbey, between Ilkeston and Ockbrook,…
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Chaps with maps
Part of Speed’s Derbyshire map of 1611: Wirksworth in centre. It is a mystery of history that maps in the modern sense, as aids to travel, did not appear until…
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“A fine lady upon a white horse …”
Woman riding side-saddle: No portrait of Celia appears to exist. Celia Fiennes (1662-1741) was a well-connected lady who toured much of England on horseback around the end of the seventeenth…
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The Tunnel Road
Butterley and Ripley from Sanderson’s map of 1835 The Butterley Tunnel, shown on the map above, was one of the biggest engineering challenges in the construction of the 14 mile-long…
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…and miles to go before I sleep
The Roman legions are supposed to have been capable of marching 20 miles per day. Even allowing for the Roman mile being slightly shorter than the modern mile, reducing the…
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All roads lead to ….?
A street in the ruins of Pompeii Pompeii may provide us with a good idea of what a Roman road looked like. Until its destruction in 79 CE Pompeii was…
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On yer bikes!
A group of Ripley cyclists about 1914 Bicycles only became practical transport in the 1890s, with the arrival of the chain-driven ‘safety cycle’ fitted with pneumatic tyres. Priced at about…
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The Horsey World
A jolly holiday crowd at Matlock Bath Today it is easy to forget the importance of the horse before the twentieth century. Leaving cavalry and racing aside, they were critical…
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Cromford to Langley Mill in six gates
Toll cottage at top of Bullbridge Hill The Cromford Bridge to Langley Mill turnpike wasn’t the snappiest name, but the road was intended to provide access to Nottingham from Cromford…
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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…
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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…
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The romance of the road
Give to me the life I love, Let the lave go by me, Give the jolly heaven above And the byway nigh me. Bed in the bush with stars to…
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The ferryman at Anchor?
Anchor Church today On the steep south bank of the River Trent, a short walk from Ingleby village, this rock-cut structure may have been used since the ninth century. Although…
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The hermit of the bridge
The causeway in the old days Swarkeston Bridge was once the only crossing of the Trent between Burton and Nottingham, carrying traffic on the north-south route through the Midlands to…
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Snowmotion
A recent winter view of Youlgreave Winter has never been the best season for travel, but in the past it must have been far more difficult than today. Not only…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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551 signs … and counting!
An early sign being restored Have you ever found your footpath ploughed up, or a stile that would challenge a mountain goat? Help is available, thanks to one of Britain’s…
The Old Roads of Derbyshire 