Here you will find the archive of all my published blogs.
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Old roads meet iron roads
With the opening of the North Midland Railway line from Derby towards Chesterfield in 1840 the pattern of transport in the area was transformed. Faster and cheaper movement of both…
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On the slow road to Wirksworth
This painting is one of several with the same or similar titles and visual ingredients. The artist, George Turner, seems to have specialized in rustic views of his corner of…
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How Bess went to London
In August 1557 Bess, living at Chatsworth, was summoned to London by her then husband, William Cavendish; he was facing charges of financial malpractice and needed her support. The details…
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Snakes and dukes
The Snake Pass on the A57 Sheffield to Manchester route was one of the highest turnpike roads in the country, and is still plagued by winter closures due to snow…
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Striding along …
It’s hard to escape from Robin Hood in the north Midlands, with pubs bearing his name spread out over the region, from Macclesfield to Stoke and Sheffield to Nottingham. There…
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Searching for St Alkmund
Few people outside the Midlands have heard of this Saxon saint, but in Derbyshire he is commemorated by two churches, a well and a street, besides being the patron saint…
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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…
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A lovely day out in the Bath
Today Matlock Bath rarely seems short of visitors; even in winter there will be customers for ice cream, and car parks fill up by mid-day. But in the past, especially…
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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…
