Taste Derbyshire – Buying Direct From The Farm
Taste Derbyshire’s Amanda Volley discovered, buying your groceries down on the farm makes for a deliciously different shopping experience and helps to boost the rural economy. There is something very appealing about buying direct from the farm. On top of the feel-good-factor of buying fresh from the fields, there’s a chance of getting up close and personal with the producers. In this case, a herd of 70 Friesian cows at Hooks Farm Dairy in Borrowash. “Don’t worry, they are just curious,” reassures farmer Dan Smith (25), when one gets close enough to lick my camera lens. “They are quite docile unless they have calves to protect” Hooks is one of a growing number of UK dairy farms selling ‘old fashioned’ milk (fresh, in glass bottles and creamy enough to pour on a pudding) from a state-of-the-art vending machine. “The cows have already produced 350 litres of milk today,” says farmer Dan Smith (25), as he shows me round the ‘Cow Shed’ where customers can buy milk (plus local spuds and free-range eggs) and admire pin-ups of ‘Dusky Girl’ ‘Easter Molly’ and other stars from the herd. “My dad John and I got up for milking at 6.30am and finished at 10.30 for a croissant and some coffee. I’d say the milk in the machine is about two hours old.” According to a report by NFU Mutual (2018), more than 63 per cent of farmers have a side-business. Of these, nine out of ten feel this second income stream is vital in securing their farm’s future. This was certainly the case at Hooks. Dan Smith says his family were forced to look beyond their traditional market (sending all their milk to a co-operative) when milk prices dipped to 13p per litre in 2005 (they are currently at 27p). “We had to do something to safeguard the farm for future generations. My dad is a fourth-generation farmer who moved here in 1956. Farming isn’t just our livelihood – it’s a way of life,” he explains. “We began researching ways to add more value to the milk and visited farms where they made dairy products like ice cream. We loved the convenience of a vending machine and people told us they’d be happy to pay £1 per litre (£1.80 for two) for milk fresh from our herd.” The Smiths installed the milk vending machine in November 2018. “We were painting the cow shed into the night – that’s why some of the hand-painted letters are a bit wobbly,” laughs Dan. “On the first day, a Friday, we sold nine litres. The second day we sold 40 and the milk ran out. On the Sunday we sold more than 100 litres and we had around 50 cars in the yard. We sold 50,000 litres of milk through the vending machine in our first year. We’re very grateful for all the support.” Dan has been thrilled with the feed-back from the customers; “Everyone comments on the taste of the milk. Its reputation has spread by word-of-mouth alone. That’s the best compliment of all, our customers telling their friends to try it,” he says. “The milk is rich and creamy because our herd is fed on grass from March until November or even December depending on the weather. That’s why it tastes so good.” The Smiths are also happy for their customers to meet the cows including Dermott, the magnificent bull, who was responsible for a spike in the birth-rates last Christmas. “We do everything for our animals – my dad jokes that they have better bedding than most humans. We have to make sure our milk is good enough to keep people coming back again and again,” Dan says. “We even found one chap in the yard at midnight. He’d just been to the pub and said his missus would kill him if he didn’t take a bottle of our milk home.” As for the future, Dan says it’s important to keep pushing forward; “We’ve got a lot of ideas including installing a hot drinks machine and maybe doing skimmed milk so we can use the cream to make something like soft scoop ice cream or milkshakes,” he says. I’m also keen to set-up a live video stream so our customers can see the cows being milked. It’s the least we can do to thank people for keeping us in business. I’d like to think there will always be a member of the Smith family involved in farming.” Leaving Hooks Farm, I drive seven miles to Stanley Common to join the crowds flocking towards the impressive shop-cum-café at Oakfield Farm. Forget all those preconceptions about muddy yards and chilly sheds; Oakfield Farm Shop is on a Grand Designs scale and the bespoke oak building is terribly smart both inside and out. No wellies required. “We come here every Tuesday for coffee and to shop, we love it,” explains Sue Rice, of Spondon, who is heading for the butchery counter for pork chops and lamb’s liver. “The food is great; the staff are so helpful and friendly. The meat looks delicious so you can imagine how good it tastes.” He husband Geoff laughs; “If I wasn’t on a diet I could go mad here. All those homemade pies and the cheese. It’s just such different quality to what you’d find in a supermarket. It’s all top-notch.” Andrew Wint (59), who runs the business with wife Karen (56), says farm shops are gaining in popularity as customers increasingly want fresh, quality produce on their door-step. “The lamb on this counter was born on this farm” says Andrew. Our customers love the fact that the beef and lamb come from animals raised here. All of the cakes, sausage rolls, pies, quiches and even the faggots are made on-site.” Andrew laughs when asked about his farming roots. “I was a milkman and my dad, a miner” he says. “But I’ve always loved farming. Even as a youngster growing up in Stanley Common, I’d help on farms at
Cruising gently along the Rhone – Part Two Vienne to Lyon
Leaving Vienne and its Roman links, we sailed through the night, past Lyon where we would eventually return and, joining the River Saône, made our way into Beaujolais countryside, past villages well known to wine lovers. Hopefully we would be enjoying their produce later. Today’s visit was to be Beaune, the wine capital of Burgundy. As it is set well back from the Saône, we woke alongside the Quai des Messageries and spent the morning enjoying the quiet shopping streets of Chalon-sur-Saône. Opposite us on a small island, the Doyenne Tower still guides river traffic, but not on the scale as when wine was shipped from quays similar to the one to which we were tied. Chalon has been a famous wine exporting centre since Roman times when it was called Cavillonum, then Cabyllona when Emperor Constantius used it as a base for his 7th Legion in 354 AD. Even earlier than Roman times, Chalon-sur-Saône was an important centre. Before assuming its modern name which is derived from the river goddess Souconna, it was known as Arar by the local Gallic tribes. The gentle Saône rises near Vioménil in the Vosges Mountains to the east before joining the Rhône near Lyon. Apparently a stage of the Tour de France was due to end in Chalon–sur-Saône later in the month, and the town hall, the Hotel de Ville, was decorated with yellow bunting, ready to welcome the day’s winner of the yellow jersey. Along with welcoming professional cyclists, the town has a couple of famous sons. Nicéphore Niépore, an early inventor of one of the versions of photography came from here; there is a museum dedicated to his work not far from the Quai des Messageries. Another son, Dominique Vivant was involved with the creation of the Louvre Museum in Paris. This came about soon after the French Revolution, when the state was looking for somewhere to display the collection of gems and medals inherited from the guillotined King Louis XVI. A small fleet of coaches took us up to Beaune, one of France’s most famous wine producing regions, home of Meursault, Volnay and Pommard to name just a few. There are still a few traces of the city wall that once surrounded Beaune. Following it from the out-of-town bus park, we passed a stream issuing from what was once the town’s water supply. At one time this would have combined a source of fresh water with the local equivalent of a medieval launderette. Not only would local women visit it to do their weekly wash, but they would use it to keep up to date with the current gossip. Medieval streets lead away from the ring road, into what cannot fail but to tell the world that here is the capital of Burgundy’s wine production. Almost the first building we passed on the way in was the 13th century wine market, then the Musée des Vins de Bourgogne, followed by inviting entrances to all the competing ‘caves’, the warehouses of different wine retailers. We spent a happy hour in one, sampling what was on offer, but I was able to remain sober enough to spot the competing sign advertising Jura whisky outside a neighbouring establishment selling some quite rare single malts! Now that is salesmanship if ever there was. Beaune was founded by the Dukes of Burgundy, with dynasties stretching back to the 9th century with imaginative names such as John the Fearless, Charles the Bold, Philip the Good and Philip the Handsome – obviously they were not afraid of a bit of self publicity now and then. Probably the finest building in the town is the magnificent Hospices de Beaune, or Hotel-Dieu with its instantly recognisable multi-coloured tiled roof. Considered one of the finest examples of French 15th century architecture, it was founded in 1443 after the Hundred Years War by Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor to Duke Philip the Good. At that time the majority of most of the town’s inhabitants were destitute as the result of the long conflict and the hospital became a refuge for the poor, together with orphaned children along with the disabled, sick and elderly; a charity that has lasted unbroken from the Middle Ages to this day. Nowadays funding is raised by way of an annual wine auction. An afternoon drive took us through the section of Burgundy-cum- Beaujolais known locally as the Côtes d’Or. To say wine production is a uni-crop is putting it mildly. Acre upon acre, or should one say hectare upon hectare fill the valley sides south of Dijon. The northerly part, the so-called Côte de Nuits, specialises in red wines from the late harvested Pinot Noir grape, while the southern section, the Côte de Beaune embraces full-bodied white wines made from Chardonnay grapes. Reds are not overlooked and include such famous names as Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Corton, Beaune Pommard and Volnay, while Montrachet, Meursault and Corton-Charlemagne account for some of the finest white-wine vintages. In addition the district produces a range of light rosés, along with the sparkling crémant wines. A final night cruise took us back to Lyon for a day to explore the city before travelling back via the famed TGV and Eurostar. France’s third largest city (population around 1.2 millions), Lyon climbs above the Rhône’s east bank and also fills the spit of land, the ‘presqu’ile’ dividing it from its confluence with the Saône. This part is the old city, Vieux Lyon, and to the west of both parts, high above the Saône is where the Roman’s entertained the population at a huge theatre built on the site of an earlier Gallic settlement. Topping everything beyond the theatre is the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourvière with the finest view of the city. The Roman city of Lugdunum grew from a small Gallic settlement when Marcus Agrippa made what became Lyon the starting point of principal Roman roads throughout Gaul and ultimately its capital. Emperor Claudius conqueror of
Walk Derbyshire – Lathkill Dale & Over Haddon
Lathkill Dale is one of my favourite walking areas of the Peak. I don’t know how many times I have walked beside what Izaac Walton called ‘the purest of streams’. I have walked there and enjoyed it in all weathers and in every season of the year. There are almost unlimited variations of footpath routes on either side of the dale, north, south, east and west. This walk was taken in early autumn when the leaves were just beginning to turn and the damp air had just a little hint of the winter still to come. The dale’s steep sides are now densely crowded with all manner of trees and shrubs, a haven for wildlife and the area below farmland on either side of the dale is classed as a National Nature Reserve. It is hard to realise that the trees are a comparatively modern addition to Lathkil Dale. Not so very long ago, a mere century past, this was an industrial zone with lead mines and a flour mill; and even a short-lived gold rush that cost its investors a fortune, but all that is long gone. Nothing remains but the ruins of Mandale Mine, one of the largest lead mines in the Peak, together with the pathetic attempts to dig into the hillside for what turned out to be fool’s gold. Probably the only place where a small but steady profit was made for its owners was the flour mill at the end of the forested section of the dale, but even that is dead and gone. Nowadays the only income from Lathkil Dale is the result of fees paid by anglers and shooting parties who come in search of trout, or to catch the raucous pheasants heard calling amongst the shrubbery. The walk begins and ends in Over Haddon, the little village south of Bakewell that perches on a limestone ledge high above the northern bank of the River Lathkil. It has a single pub and a tearoom waiting to slake the thirsts or fill the stomachs of all who follow this walk. Parking is in the small pay and display car park at the start of the lane down to the valley bottom where the main footpath begins. An easy to navigate walk, it follows the dale upstream, through a mature wild wood to its upper boundary. This is the site of the ruined and long abandoned flour mill where a right turn joins a winding path up to the lower of Haddon Grove Farms. From here the way back to Over Haddon is along a quiet high level by-road. Please note: the path along the dale bottom is concessionary and is occasionally closed during the shooting season. 1 From the car park, follow the steep, winding lane down to the lodge in the dale bottom. A slight diversion for a few yards continuing beyond the lodge reaches an ancient stone-slabbed clapper bridge. A rarity in the Peak, there are however, three within a radius of a little over a mile from this one. 2 Returning to the lane, turn left and go through a wooden gate, (or go straight on if you are not going to look at the clapper bridge). Follow the riverside path along the valley. Look out for two trial holes carved into the outcropping rock on the right of the path. These are the remains of an attempt to mine gold in Lathkil Dale. Investors lost fortunes in what soon became a mine excavating nothing but fool’s gold – iron pyrites. 3 At the start of the wooded section of the walk you will have reached the remains of Mandale Mine to your right. Water to drive a pumping engine was brought from further up the dale along an aqueduct; all that remains are three or four ruined stone pillars that once carried a water trough from one side of the river over to the mine. 4 Look out for two fenced hollows at the right of the path. They are sink holes and are a natural way for water to drain away underground. A small plaque on the fence explains how they work. 5 Continuing along the woodland track, pause and cross over the wooden ‘willow pattern’ bridge on your left a little way beyond the aqueduct’s pillars. It leads to the ruins of a cottage where the mine manager and his wife lived in the 1800s. The kitchen was built over an entrance to a side mine. Within it a newly developed pump was hidden from competitors’ eyes. Unfortunately the floor was not strong enough and the poor lady once disappeared into the depths, fortunately without too many cuts and bruises. A metal ladder now descends safely into what was the cellar and a hand cranked dynamo lights up the depths below. 6 Returning over the bridge cross over and turn left to re-join the woodland track. Follow it for about three-quarters of a mile to the woodland boundary. 7 Go through a gate in the boundary fence and turn right, going past the scant remains of the local flour mill. Apart from a few stones remaining from the outer walls, you might spot the millstones lying mute in amongst the weeds. 8 Follow the track going right as it winds steeply zig-zagging uphill for about half a mile until it reaches the lower of Haddon Grove Farms. 9 Keeping to the right of the farm buildings, join the access drive and follow it for a little over a hundred yards until it reaches the Monyash Over Haddon road. 10 Turn right along this scenic by-road and follow it for about a couple of miles, back into Over Haddon. 11 Continue past the car park if in search of refreshment. Both the tea room and the pub are on this street; the tea room is half way along and the pub at the far end, beyond where the road makes a left-hand turn in the direction of
Modern Collectibles – Trench Art
On my desk at home is a small brass receptacle in which I have always kept my paperclips. It is brass, of circular form and has a domed brass lid engraved, a little crudely, with the arms of Derby, and with the word Derby below it. The top fits the base with wonderful accuracy, and the base was made from a 75mm French shell case and the lid adapted from a 77mm German field gun shell case. I bought it on the market for a pound when I was education officer at the Museum, merely because it was a local souvenir. Later, I came to realise that this was an excellent local piece of trench art. Trench art includes items made by serving soldiers, primarily in the two great wars, from whatever waste material was to hand, although in the first world war this was mainly brass from shell cases – for this was essentially an artillery war. In the second, one tends to find the use of Duralumin from crashed aircraft (easier to work than brass) too. Looking back further, I can recall shell cases in my maternal grandmother’s home in use as vases – for my grandfather, an Anglo-Irish renegade who had run away to sea before the conflict, was commissioned into a Canadian Regiment in Halifax, Nova Scotia and was in 1916 posted to the Western front – and survived. At home we had an undecorated 9.2inch howitzer shell case on our hearth as a spill vase, allegedly another of grandpapa’s spoils of war. There is much evidence to prove that some trench art was made in the trenches during the Great War, although it is probable that only the very smallest bone, wooden and metal objects like rings were created in the front line on both sides of the conflict. The primary source is more likely to be support troops working behind the lines: Royal Engineers, REME, later RASC and so on. They had the materials, machinery, skill and occasional spare time, and money could be made selling souvenirs to soldiers heading home. Behind the lines, work to make souvenirs was also given to displaced civilians. Trench art was also made therapeutically by wounded and convalescing men, for whom such work formed part of their rehabilitation. And many no doubt personalised such souvenirs made by others by adding inscriptions of their own: regimental badges, mottoes, names and so on. Yet there was a large manufacturing trade during and after the war well away from war zones. Thus, an item may have been bought – by the soldier, or by a relative on a subsequent battlefield visit. The major department stores were complicit in this. In the immediate post-war period they offered to turn war souvenirs such as shell fuse heads – often brought back by soldiers – into wooden-based paperweights and other items. A fine desk set recently came through Bamfords and made £85. Furthermore, if ex-soldiers had no souvenir, they could be provided. This is the explanation for the considerable number of examples of bulkier trench art, such as dinner gongs and poker stands made from shell charge cases. These would never have fitted into a kitbag! With regards work done actually on the front line, the autobiography of soldier George Coppard tells of pressing uniform buttons into the clay floor of his trench, then pouring molten lead from shrapnel into the impressions to cast replicas of the regimental badge for application to shell case vases, the commonest form of Great War trench art. Many smaller items such as rings and knives were made by soldiers in quieter parts of the line. Coppard also recalled that, while recuperating from wounds at a private house back in England (‘Blighty’ in those days!) ‘…one kind old lady brought a supply of coloured silks and canvas and instructed us in the art of embroidery. A sampler which I produced under her guidance so pleased her that she had it framed for me.’ Another category of trench art consists of items made by prisoners of war and interned civilians, both endowed with limitless free time albeit with limited resources. Much POW work was therefore done with the express intention of trading the finished article for food, money, cigarettes or other privileges. At the war’s end, when civilians began to reclaim their shattered communities, a new market appeared in the form of pilgrims and tourists. Over the ensuing twenty years mountains of discarded debris, shell casings, and castoff equipment were slowly recycled, with mass-produced town crest motifs being stuck onto bullets, shell casings, fuse caps, and other items to be sold to tourists. Likewise, surplus matériel was sold by the government and converted to souvenirs of the conflict. Also, the dismantling of ships by scrap firms, particularly if the ship had been involved in significant events such as the Battle of Jutland, resulted in much of the wood from the ship being turned into miniature barrels, letter racks, pipe stands and boxes, with small brass plaques attached giving source and provenance. At Bamford’s our late November library sale included a couple of batches of decorated shell-case vases, which usually come in pairs, and were estimated at £30-50. At antique fairs, £50-60 is about par for the course for these, but recently I also saw a pair of ashtrays with vesta cases supported on a spike rising from the middle for the very same price and a repoussé work jardinière made from a 12inch railway howitzer shell, again for £55. A pin tray was inset with a period Edward VII halfpenny and, if you turned over there was a 10c Belgian coin underneath! Spent and unspent bullets were also favoured. British .303 and German 7.62mm ones abound. A second world war Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter on a stand made from a shell case bottom, was fashioned in the Pacific theatre from 7.62mm bullets and Duralumin strips, later being chrome plated: yours for £90. The recent centenary of the Great War
The Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Norton House, Norton
For any reader who missed my description of Greenhill Hall, I ought to repeat that although Norton is today a fully integrated suburb of Sheffield, this has only been the case since 1936, when the Sheffield Council, greedy to boost rate income, managed to obtain a large chunk of NE Derbyshire during the local government boundary review of the year before. Not that it means that Norton wasn’t already effectively a suburb of Sheffield, not a bit of it; that situation was effectively achieved by the 1890s, and indeed the village and very extensive parish always looked to Sheffield rather than Chesterfield or Derby. Because the parish included several townships with separate manorial estates, there were also quite a number of country houses, of which the Hall survives, most recently as flats along with The Oaks. Several others have gone, including Norton House, although there is a replacement on the same site. If you refer to Samuel and Daniel Lysons’ History of Derbyshire – volume five of their incomplete magnum opus, Magna Britannia – you will find that Norton House ‘was supposed to have been built by the Morewoods’ a claim I find it difficult to substantiate; for the story is a long and complex one. The house that survived into the age of photography, and was photographed by Richard Keene of Derby sometime in the early 1860s, had a seventeenth century core, resulting in an H-shaped plan. It was constructed of two storeys and attics of local coal measures sandstone ashlared into thinnish blocks with smooth dressings of millstone grit. The central section was recessed between the two wings under straight coped gables, and the house was somewhat similar in build to Carnfield Hall near Alfreton. The windows were mullioned (and probably transomed). Inside there were oak pannelled rooms, some very richly carved, with a number of Sheffield school decorated plaster ceilings, that in the dining room being of six compartments with a different decorative motif in each. One chimneypiece bore a similarly styled decorated plaster overmantel bearing the armorial crest and initials of Leonard Gill and the date 1623, which we may reasonably take to be the date of building, although there had been a previous house on the site. This had been acquired and built by the family of Bishop Geoffrey Blythe, one of eight sons of William Blythe of Norton Lees, who had bought the site from the Babington family. Quote how it came to the Gills is, however, unclear, for the Bishop sold the estate to Chesterfield apothecary Richard Wood. Presumably his successor sold it on to the Gills. We get some idea of the appearance of this original house from a drawing in Chantrey Land, presumably done in the nineteenth century, showing wide gables on the projecting wings of the north front and mullioned windows on the principal floors with enhanced (raised) transoms, with string courses along their tops. In the civil war period, Gill died, leaving a widow who had a life’s interest in the house and paid tax on six hearths in 1670, and an only daughter, who was married to Rowland Morewood of Oakes Park, nearby, hence the Lysons’ remarks. But when he died in 1658, his son and heir, John (married to Leonard Gill’s great niece Elizabeth) went to live at Alfreton Hall, whilst his brother took on Oakes Park so, on Mrs. Gill’s death the house and its estate were sold to Samuel Hallowes, High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1674. But, as we saw in October’s Lost Houses, he was living happily at Glapwell Hall, and his son Thomas sold Norton House once again to the Radcliffes from whom it passed in short order to the Bramhalls who sold it to John Wingfield of Hazelbarrow Hall (another lost house in Norton parish) in 1712 in order for him to endow his daughter Margaret with it on her marriage that year to Robert Newton of Mickleover. Mickleover then had no seat (the Old Hall having found its way into the hands of the Cotchetts) and so Newton established himself at Norton House and decided to modernize it, most of which effort was directed at the south (garden) front. He removed the gables and replaced the attics with a half storey and a plain parapet above. The doorcase was given an open pediment on brackets originally with a swagger coat-of-arms in the gap, and the windows were all sashed, and given moulded stone surrounds, that above the doorcase indeed acquiring a somewhat more elaborate treatment. The central attic window was an oeil-de-boeuf set in an oval surround with four keyblocks. The original string courses were mainly suffered to remain, and the sashes did not extend to the north front. We do not know the identity of the architect. Whilst one might suspect a man from Sheffield being brought in, it is important to bear in mind that Newton had connections further south, and two other country houses in Derbyshire have the same style of pedimented doorcase and oeil-de-boeuf above: Wheston Hall, Tideswell (mainly demolished, see Country Images November 2014) and Winster Hall still, thankfully, extant and lived in by appreciative owners. We do not know for sure who designed either of them – most likely it was John Barker of Rowsley (1668-1727) – except that it looks very much as if they are all by the same hand. All date from exactly the right period, too. Until the death of the bachelor son, Robert, the Newtons occupied the house longer than anyone else, I suspect. However, as by 1789 Newton had acquired Bearwardcote Hall as well, he left his southerly estates to his nephew Robert Leaper (later Robert Newton) Mickleover, and a life’s interest in Norton House to three other kinsmen all kin to his mother: William Cunliffe-Shaw (great-grandfather of R. Cunliffe Shawe FSA, author of that classic of Dark Age arcana, The Men of the North) his father Joseph and great-grand-daughter Harriet, daughter of Wingfield Wildman
One Man & His Coe
Some men when they retire build themselves a shed where they can happily pursue their hobbies, or chat with their pals. When Terry Haughton of Middleton-by-Wirksworth retired, he made a bid for a couple of fields at the top of his property. Possibly his idea was to do a bit of small time farming, but his plans were changed radically when he began to tidy up a pile of rubble at the top of his garden. As the pile began to subside, Terry was shocked to find that it was disguising the top of a mine shaft. One of at least 5,000 sometimes unprotected mine shafts dotting fields throughout the Peak District, it was subsequently thought to be a winding shaft accessing a lead mine following the Stichen Vein which runs from beneath Middleton Moor to what became Dene Quarry near Cromford. With the shaft blocked almost to the top by rubble and rubbish, but certainly a potential hazard, Terry decided to make it safe by encasing the surface around the top of the shaft with concrete. Rather than fill it in, he finished it off with safety glass and a man-hole cover. Thinking ahead, he also installed an LED lamp to help visitors admire the still functioning ginging, or dry-stone lining to the shaft’s upper section. To keep visitors dry when they came to see what he had found, Terry built a corrugated roof to shelter his handiwork, later turning it into a high level wildflower garden. Unfortunately the roof was not proof against Peak District weather, and the shed was in need of walls. To do this as quickly as possible, he used bales of straw instead of time consuming stone and, in an instant, his shed became a coe, or miner’s shelter. All it needed was a bit of carpet, a couple of chairs and a small settee and, hey-presto, the place was ready for visitors. Looking down the shaft, it soon became obvious that it was part-filled with all manner of rubbish. Without any mining knowledge, Terry puzzled over what to do, especially as he was keen to see where the shaft led. Salvation came one Sunday afternoon when a few members of the Goodluck Mine Preservation Club were slaking their thirsts in the Nelson Inn nearby. Goodluck Mine, incidentally, is high on the side of the Via Gellia and runs beneath D.H. Lawrence’s Mountain Cottage, not far down the road from Middleton. Plucking up courage, Terry asked one of the Goodluck people if they would be interested in exploring the mine he had found at the top of his garden. This was an offer they couldn’t resist and, over the span of a few weekends work started on clearing out the shaft. It soon became obvious that the shaft had over the years, been used as a dumping ground for anything from a dead dog and a cow’s jaw, to glass bottles, a treasure trove for anyone interested in picking over old rubbish. Ginging at the top of the shaft was in perfect order, but as the explorers made their way slowly down the shaft it soon became apparent that the quality of workmanship left much to be desired. What they did confirm was that the shaft cuts into the east-west running Stichen Vein. Starting below Middleton Moor, it passes according to nineteenth century Ordnance Survey maps, directly under Terry’s house to continue beneath the Nelson Inn (which has interesting possibilities) and then on in an almost straight line to Dene Quarry. Terry if he so wished, could by following the laws of the ancient Barmote Court, claim ownership to the mine, if no one else claimed ownership, by applying to re-open Stichen Vein Mine. There is just one problem stopping him doing this – he would have to present the jury with a dish full of ore, the miners’ Standard Dish which has been used since the time of King Henry VIII. With Terry’s original plan to do a little small-time farming put on hold, a highland bull called Henry and two heifers together with a pretty calf, the result of Henry’s attentions, graze peacefully in the paddock, blissfully unaware that bales of straw destined for their comfort, now make the eco-friendly walls of Terry’s coe. Anyone interested in visiting a restored lead mine, especially without the need to descend by way of a shaft (this one is accessed horizontally directly into the hillside), can visit the Goodluck Mine in the Via Gellia. Guided tours are offered on the first Sunday in every month. Safety helmets and lamps are provided, just wear walking boots and outdoor gear. Access to Goodluck Mine is from the Via Gellia, on the left of the A5012 coming from Cromford. Park in the layby on the left beyond Tufa Lodge and follow the path over the footbridge and climb steadily uphill. Go past the first side path on the right and turn right at the next. Wood smoke from the restored coe should act as a guide. 00
Tried & Tested – Dr. Hauschka
Natural Cosmetics with a difference. Our brand is much more than a chic logo – it denotes our cosmos. Our selected medicinal plants are certified organic and help the skin to help itself and to regenerate. We respect our inner beauty just as much as our outer beauty. We are obsessed with quality and have been manufacturing on the same Swabian site for over 50 years, using methods that are still largely manual. In a company that is a Foundation and has no need to think about shareholders. It needs only to respect itself, civil society and the natural environment. Colour Correcting Powder £25 Fresh and refined: Dr. Hauschka Colour Correcting Powder. This powder from Dr. Hauschka includes four different translucent shades to perfect and even out the complexion. The pistachio tone neutralises redness, apricot emphasises your natural skin tone, a hint of vanilla brightens shadows, and light brown combines all four shades in our beautifully balancing Colour Correcting Powder. Apply the powder directly to the skin or on top of your chosen foundation. It is suitable for all skin tones. Foundation £30, 30ml The natural make-up base. Dr. Hauschka Foundation provides lightweight, even coverage that blends seamlessly with your natural skin tone and luminosity. The mineral pigments contained in the formulation reliably cover up skin irregularities and redness. Use our Foundation as a natural base for your make-up or to balance parts of your complexion with the concealer brush. Discover the versatility of this Dr. Hauschka Make-up must-have. Allow your regular day cream to absorb before applying the Foundation. Loose Powder £27 The lightest touch: Dr. Hauschka Loose Powder. So delicate yet so effective – our Loose Powder perfects your complexion and sets your make-up. Apply the Loose Powder either with our Powder Brush or with the included powder puff. The transparent composition of mineral pigments blends naturally with the colour nuances of your skin or with previously applied tinted products. For more information visit www.drhauschka.co.uk Product Test Loose Powder This powder is very fine and leaves your skin with a lovely matt finish. Its natural ingredients mean that it doesn’t dry or irritate your skin but gives a lovely finish either straight on to your skin or on top of a foundation cream. A great product. JP Foundation A little goes a long way with this foundation. It smells lovely, sinks into the skin naturally and leaves skin looking fab. VP Colour Correcting Powder This pressed powder is great at colour correcting redness, dark circles and uneven skin tones. Its easy to use and is a light powder. It gives a matt finish. The only down side is there isn’t a brush to apply it with. CB 00
Celebrity Interview – Les Dennis
After an amazing year in which he made his Royal Shakespeare Company debut, the all-round entertainer is preparing for a season in panto and he can hardly wait to return to Nottingham, a city that has so many fond memories for him. When we spoke on the phone Les held nothing back as he told me what made him go into the business in the first place, how he credits Ricky Gervais with reviving his career and how he’s determined to return to Stratford to do more serious theatre. Les is relishing coming back to Nottingham where he will appear in the Theatre Royal’s festive feast Cinderella. “I know Nottingham really well. I did panto at the Theatre Royal in 1987, Babes in the Wood. I was also there not long ago when we did The Addams Family musical and then of course I did Family Fortunes from Lenton Lane (Central TV’s studios) for many years. I used to spend at least three weeks a year in Nottingham. “I love the city. I love the atmosphere there. It’s a beautiful theatre to work, intimate and lovely.” In Cinderella Les will be reunited with his Coronation Street nemesis Connor McIntyre. In the soap Les played former convict Michael Rodwell while Connor was Pat Phelan, regarded by some people as “the ultimate soap baddie”. They will team up again in Cinderella as the Ugly Sisters, with their characters renamed Phelina and Michaela. “It works great,” says Les. “The Uglies aren’t dames – it’s men in dresses but they’re the villains. Of course when you get two villains there’s always one badder than the other one and that certainly has to be Phelina.” The pair were in Cinderella in Manchester last year. Now the same show is coming to Nottingham. The only difference is that Sooty and Richard Cadell who plays Buttons have been added to the bill. Les can hardly wait to work with Connor again: “When we were in Corrie we shared a dressing room and when I knew that the end of Michael was going to be at Phelan’s hands, I was delighted. I thought I would rather that than go off in a taxi to the airport. “Michael was his first victim. In a way it was crueller than the others because he didn’t kill me – he let me die, which is in some ways sadistic and weird. But it was great to work with him.” Last year’s Cinderella was Connor’s first panto: “He said ‘I’m completely in your hands’,” says Les. “He let me explain exactly how a gag will work. Once he started he took to it like a duck to water. I should imagine this year he’ll be teaching me a few things.” Les agrees with my assertion that panto is really hard work: “It’s two shows a day every day. I’ll have a holiday in January. “You have a responsibility in panto because the kids are seeing theatre for the first time. You’ve got to get it right and you’ve got to make them want to come back again.” Leslie Dennis Heseltine was born on 12 October 1953 in Garston, Liverpool. When he was 17 he went on a school trip to Stratford to see Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and thought “Oh, I really want to do this.” But he’d already started playing working men’s clubs as a comedian and an actor’s life seemed out of reach when he won the ITV talent show New Faces. He joined Russ Abbot on his television show before forming a comedy partnership with fellow impressionist Dustin Gee which ended with Gee’s unexpected death in 1986 at the age of 43. Les then hosted Family Fortunes for 15 years. He’d been divorced from his first wife and during the quiz show’s run he married actress Amanda Holden. While they were separated Les appeared on Celebrity Big Brother. Although he finished runner-up he had what the press perceived as a breakdown live on television. Afterwards the phone didn’t ring for a while. Then Ricky Gervais offered him a part in his series Extras as a washed-up, middle-aged television star who is cuckolded by a younger man. “People kept saying it was a brave move but it gave me a chance to show that I’ve got a sense of humour about myself. I took it with both hands and it’s opened me to a whole new demographic. “There was a poll recently about which was the best episode of Extras and I’m in the final. Which is amazing when you consider you’re knocking out Kate Winslett, Samuel L Jackson and people like that.” He worked with Gervais again on the series Life’s Too Short with Warwick Davis, Keith Chegwin and Shaun Williamson. Then, in 2014, it was announced that Les was joining Coronation Street where he stayed for two-and-a-half years. “It was brilliant and I loved it. But it got to the stage where I wasn’t allowed to do other things that I wanted to do because you’ve got to commit to Corrie. In the end I thought it was time to move on. “When I did leave I went straight into The Addams Family and then into other theatre jobs that I really enjoyed. “I think if you’ve got a name before you go into a soap, you’re not defined by that soap when you come out.” In 2014 Les showed his acting prowess at Derby Theatre when he played Victor Smiley in Peter James’ play The Perfect Murder. Then earlier this year Les was cast by the Royal Shakespeare Company in two Restoration plays in its smaller Swan Theatre. He played a corrupt senator in the tragedy Venice Preserved by Thomas Otway, acting alongside his niece Jodie McNee. He was also in John Vanbrugh’s comedy The Provoked Wife. “It was a real bucket list job,” says Les. “I had a ball there and worked with some amazing directors and actors. It’s like a kitemark
Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Measham Hall
Well informed readers might be tempted to say, on seeing the subject of this article, that Measham is not in Derbyshire at all, which seems all wrong in view of the fact that we try to present histories of lost Derbyshire houses. All it not quite as it seems, however, as Measham was until 1897 very definitely part of Derbyshire, one of a number of enclaves entirely surrounded by Leicestershire, which tidy-minded legislation of 1889 set out to resolve. Furthermore, the church of Measham was originally a chapel-of-ease of Repton parish church. These enclaves were formed in the tenth and eleventh centuries by assarting (clearing of woodland for cultivation) by Derbyshire people in land that had not at that time been fully shired in the wake of the unification of re-conquered Mercia with Wessex to form the Kingdom of England. The southernmost was Ravenstone; others included Chilcote, part of Donisthorpe, Oakthorpe, Packington, Snibston, Appleby Parva and part of Magna, Stretton-en-le-Field and Willesley (the hall at which we have already dealt with). We lost Clifton Campville and part of Edingale to Staffordshire and received both Seals, Over and Nether, in return. The ancient manorial estate was from the Conquest with the de Measham family, but in 1308 it passed via an heiress to the Bereforts and thence to the Blounts of Barton Blount, Lords Mountjoy, from whom it came in the Civil War to the Sheffields, Dukes of Buckingham and Normanby, then the Wollastons, who sold much of the land, long heavily mined for its coal, to Robert Abney in 1730. The Abneys probably originated from the village of that name in the Peak, the first known representative being William son of John Abney of Hope, not so far away, living 1310. Just over a century later they inherited Willesley, where they remained until 1858. George Abney of Willesley who died in 1579 left three sons. The eldest continued at Willesley, whilst the second Edmund was a Leicester merchant, married a daughter of a mayor of the place and their son Dannatt Abney was also mayor there. A descendant, Paul, served in the navy on the frigate HMS Josiah and died in Virginia, where his posterity remained and flourished mightily as prominent landowners and attorneys. The youngest son settled on an estate at Newton Burgoland, and his great grandson was Robert, whose elder surviving son became a mill owner at Oldbury, Staffs., in the Black Country (then a lot less black, of course) whilst the younger, William (1713-1800) was given the land at Measham to develop the coal. This must have proved rewarding, for in 1767 he resolved to build a house on the land, and indeed seems to have spared little expense in so doing, being aided in this by his wife, Catherina, who he had married in 1743 and who later inherited an estate at Little Canons, Herts. from her father, Thomas Wootton. By 1767, they had four young sons and two daughters and probably needed a house of sufficient size, commensurate with their status, and to build it at Measham was probably the ideal site. The Palladian building which resulted is not fully understood as there seems to be no proper survey surviving, but it was a two and a half storey brick house, seven bays wide on the main (south) front with the central three bays breaking slightly forward under a pediment. This contained a round carved stone cartouche set unusually low down on the cornice containing the family crest (a demi-lion issuant or holding between the paws an ogress) flanked with palm fronds. The ground floor end bays had each a tripartite window set in rusticated surrounds, whilst the rest of the windows had gauged brick lintels. There was a sill band at first floor level and a plat band between the first and second floors with rusticated quoins at the angles, all topped by a rather perfunctory cornice supporting a hipped roof with central light well. The side elevations were of three bays, where the fenestration was set in stone surrounds and the windows on the first and ground floors were embellished with triangular pediments, whilst the central top-floor window was octagonal. The entrance was to the east. The interior was apparently of some pretension, with a mahogany staircase rising through the height of the house in the central well with three turned balusters per tread. Unfortunately, little detail has survived otherwise, although the portrait of Jedediah Strutt by Joseph Wright, now in Derby Museum, hung in the house from the mid nineteenth century, where it was recorded in 1907. In true Palladian style, the house was flanked by two smaller pavilions joined to the main building by short single storey links. These were on one and a half storeys three bays wide under a pyramidal roof. The ground floor windows were set in a blind arcade and a first-floor sill band extended under a panelled parapet over the links. In all, it made a very satisfying ensemble. The well-wooded park extended to thirty acres. The architect of the house is not known for certain, but in the 2001 third edition of The Derbyshire Country House I opined that it might have been William Henderson of Loughborough, a close contemporary of Joseph Pickford. Now I know more about Henderson, I do not think he was involved, but instead would suggest William Harrison (c. 1740-1794). He started in Derby, son of a joiner and was styled ‘architect and surveyor’ by the time that Measham Hall was begun. He was building the Clergy Widows’ Almshouses at Ashbourne at that same period. It is possible that working for the Abneys brought him in contact with potential clients at Leicester, for he settled there soon afterwards. His magnificent Leicester Asylum has stylistically much in common with the somewhat more elaborate Measham Hall The eldest son, Robert Abney, died without surviving issue, when the estate was inherited by his next brother, the Revd. Edward Abney from whom it
Walk Derbyshire – Tegg’s Nose and the Upper Bollin Valley
5 miles (8km) of moderate to strenuous walking on well-defined footpaths and by-roads. 492-foot (150m) descent and ascent. Recommended map: Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale, Outdoor Leisure Map Sheet 2, The White Peak. Bus Services: High Peak number 58, hourly on weekdays and two-hourly on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays. Car Parking: Pay and Display Tegg’s Nose Country Park Refreshments: Tegg’s Nose Car Park Café and also Leather’s Smithy on the road between Langley and Macclesfield Forest. For this walk we are going over to the western edge of the Peak District, into the Cheshire Highlands. This region unexpectedly is one of the few places where a real peak can be found in the Peak District National Park. The district’s highest point is Shutlingsloe, the 1660 foot (506m) true peak whose graceful slopes can be seen over to the south west of the A537, Buxton to Macclesfield road. The area is quite historical in its way, as discovered for example, when exploring the footpaths on either side of Wildboarclough, one of the many places where the last wild boar was supposed to have been killed. There are several friendly pubs along the way, many of them gaining high renown for the standard of their catering. In fact, Leather’s Smithy the pub half way round this walk has gained several awards and acclaim. Another feature is Forest Chapel just a little way off the route of the walk. This tiny stone moorland place of worship is one of the few places in the British Isles where the floor is spread with fresh rushes on the nearest Sunday to the 12th August each year. The walk just touches a small part of an area better known by walkers and cyclists coming from east Cheshire and Greater Manchester. Having once lived in that area, we developed a love and knowledge of the moors and valleys surrounding Shutlingsloe, and are still tempted back every now and then to renew our memories of times past. This walk is just one of the many we know and have enjoyed. It starts and finishes at Tegg’s Nose Country Park; its car park is accessed from Buxton Old Road – leave the A537 at Walker Barn and turn left (if coming from Buxton) and drive down the old road; Tegg’s Nose Country Park car park is signposted about half a mile further along the narrow road. Tegg was a mythical giant who inhabited these high moors. The name is possibly a corruption of Tegga, a pre-historic local chieftain who was buried on the Naze, or Nose, again a corruption, in time gone-by. Early on in the walk allow time to explore the collection of restored old quarry machinery displayed in the hill-top sandstone quarry. From the quarry the walk follows part of the Gritstone Trail, a long distance footpath from Lyme Park near Stockport to Mow Cop on the outskirts of the Potteries. Dropping into the headwaters of the River Bollin, a left turn at the first of four reservoirs begins the climb back by way of Macclesfield Forest. The mature plantation of pine forest, along with the reservoirs has been claimed by wildlife, ranging from badgers and foxes, to semi-rare water fowl such as crested grebes. THE WALK 1. Leave the car park by walking back towards the road, but do not join it. Turn left along a wide well-made path leading by way of two kissing gates, to the rear of heather-covered quarry spoil heaps. 2. At the second gate, go through it and turn left to climb the stone-flagged steps, uphill. At the top of the climb, pause for breath in order to admire the view by way of Macclesfield Forest to Shutlingsloe and beyond. A nearby outdoor exhibition on the old quarry floor displays a collection of stone-cutting machinery, together with examples of stone walling and masonry techniques. A yellow boot waymark superimposed by a brown letter ‘G’ indicates that the path is part of the Gritstone Trail. 3. Turn left away from the main path and following Gritstone Trail waymarks, go down a flight of stone steps and follow the path steeply through woodland, downhill to Tegg’s Nose Reservoir. 4. Go through a kissing gate and bear right to cross two adjacent dam walls. Turn left on reaching the valley bottom road. 5. Walk along the road as far as Leather’s Smithy pub and then take the left fork in the road. Follow this side road for about a quarter of a mile. 6. At a small car park, turn left through a narrow belt of trees and then bearing right, walk uphill along a forest access track. 7. Follow a set of waymark arrows uphill and into the forest. 8. Turn left at a four-way signpost and go past an old barn. Follow the forest path downhill. 9. Look out for a sign pointing to Walker Barn, low down by a gap in the wall. Turn right here and follow the path uphill until you reach a wall crossed by a stile in order to reach the access lane to Ashtree Top, an old farm now restored as a modern house. 10. Climb over the stile and go diagonally left across the road to another stile on your left of the large house. Cross this and walk down the field, then across the heads of two shallow side valleys. Climb with the path, half right away from the second and furthest valley. Pause at the crest of the last valley and use it as an excuse to admire the view. Tegg’s Nose is in front and slightly to your right, with Langley Reservoirs in the valley bottom. Beyond and to your left is Sutton Common and its strangely adorned telecommunications tower. In the far distance you can probably make out Jodrell Bank telescope as well as Mow Cop further on into Staffordshire. The prominent little hill of Mow Cop is topped by a folly built in the shape of a ruined
