Walk Derbyshire – A Walk from Grin Low & Buxton Country Park
There are not many walks claiming to start downhill, but this one does (although the height lost must be regained at the end, but nothing is perfect, is it?) The walk starts from the car park accessing Solomon’s Temple before dropping down to the centre of Buxton and its Pavilion Gardens, returning by way of Poole’s Cavern Country Park. A once devastated landscape covered with small scale limestone burning has changed into a pleasant hillside, where mature woodland criss-crossed with meandering footpaths leads to three interesting features. The walk explores them together with the rest of the byways. Around the early 1800s Grin Low hillside was devastated by the results of two centuries of quarrying and lime burning, leaving a lunar landscape of humps and hollows where whole families lived like troglodytes. As part of his ambition to turn Buxton into a northern spa, in competition with Bath and Harrogate, the 6th Duke of Devonshire planted the 100 acre wood with a mix of broad leaf trees such as beech, oak and sycamore together with a few conifers. These have now grown into maturity and along with the grassy moor around Solomon’s Temple they have created what is now designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) where swathes of rare sub-alpine species bloom, along with many wild animals and birds making their home here. Along with paths meandering through the woods and across the open hilltop, there are three specific features that will provide plenty of interest to young and old. Starting from the car park and picnic site, these are: Poole’s Cavern Arguably this is the most natural cavern open to visitors in the Peak District. Even though it was never mined, it has links with ancient people from long before the Romans settled in what became Buxton. Formed by the action of floodwater, meandering passages are lined with stalactites ranging from delicate straw-like growths to huge columns that seem to hang without support. Rainwater falling where there are still large amounts of waste lime powder, percolates down through the earth, laden with calcite that precipitates in what has been aptly called the ‘Poached Egg Chamber’. The stream flowing through the cave rises far into the hillside, way beyond the end of the public access section, eventually forms’ part of the Derbyshire River Wye. When Poole’s Cavern was first developed as a tour cave, it was decided to remove a large section of glacial sediment blocking the easiest entrance to the cave. By doing this it links with the cavern’s earliest users whose story came to light in the shape of animal bones, iron objects and pottery, suggesting that people had sheltered in its damp recesses since at least Neolithic times (between 2000 and 1500 BC). Bronzesmiths plied their trade in its shelter during the Roman occupation, making domestic objects for the wives of soldiers stationed on what were then the wild uplands of ‘Peclond’. Who Poole was, the man who supposedly gave the cave his name has never been proven, but the traditional explanation is that an outlaw called Poole or Pole sheltered in the cavern sometime around the mid1400s; there was however, a Poole family living at Hartington, a mere 10 miles away and records dating from 1432 state that John Poole Esq held a large area of land in ‘Buckstone’, so it could be that as law abiding people they owned the cave, or maybe a renegade member of the family hid there. Whichever story is true will probably never be known, but what is on record is the visit Mary Queen of Scots made in 1580 during her spell of captivity in the Peak. A hundred years later, Charles Cotton listed the cave as one of his ‘Seven Wonders of the Peak’, and in so doing put the attraction on the visitor map. Poet laureate Sir John Betjeman visited the cave in 1980 and thanked the guide for ‘moving his unwieldy body through the vast wonders of the cavern’. Go Ape A few yards uphill from the play area beside the car park, a purpose-built modern wooden building marks the start of ‘Go Ape’, billed as the UK’s number one tree-top adventure. After being fitted with safety harness, adventurers tackle zip wires, Tarzan swings, rope ladders and complex high-wire crossings linking a course through the forest. Solomon’s Temple There are at least four ways up to the airy ridge-top tower known as Solomon’s Temple – you could even fit it in with a quick spin around the orienteering course if so inclined. The name given to the tower links it to the original benefactor who paid for it as a ‘job creation scheme’ for unemployed local quarrymen. Built in 1896, the folly or look-out tower, call it what you will, overlooks not only Buxton, but a wide swathe of Peak District scenery. The effort of climbing the hillside from the car park should only take about 25 minutes, following the wide woodland path, and the effort is well worthwhile. Don’t worry if you hear explosions coming from the group of buildings on the hillside over to your left. They will be coming from the Explosion and Fire Laboratory of the Health and Safety Executive, where they have been known to assess the explosive characteristics of custard powder! Useful Information A short 1½ mile (2.4km) easy stroll downhill and back up (totally 880feet – 268 metres) using open footpaths, side roads and public parkland. RECOMMENDED MAP Ordnance Survey 1:25000 scale Outdoor Leisure Explorer Map, Sheet OL24 – The Peak District, White Peak Area. PUBLIC TRANSPORT Hourly TP service from Derby via Matlock into Buxton Market Place. REFRESHMENTS Chaise of many pubs, cafes and restaurants, in and around Buxton town centre. CAR PARKING Above Grin Low camp site. (Honesty box payment). DIRECTIONS From Grin Low campsite car park (signposted off the Harpur Hill/A53 Leek road link), walk uphill on a footpath through a small wood. Go through a kissing gate and bear right,
Walk Derbyshire – Walking from Golden Valley to Codnor Castle
Here is a walk through history – from medieval times through the industrial revolution to the present day. Starting at the quaintly named Golden Valley, it passes the monument to a Victorian ironmaster and civil engineer, before crossing farmland slowly recovering from the depredation of open-cast coal mining in order. From here farm lanes reach a castle built by one of William the Conqueror’s knights. On the way back the walk follows the line of an abandoned section of the Cromford Canal. When the tunnel taking the Cromford Canal was dug beneath Butterley Park near Ripley, extensive amounts of ironstone and lime were discovered, making the raw materials founding the Butterley Ironworks. Specialising in large innovative projects, the company is best known for its construction of the Falkirk Wheel in recent times, to the famous pillars that still support St Pancras Station roof. What is not so well known is that the company made the cast-iron ‘trough’ carrying the Llangollen Canal over the river Dee. Such was the value and range of useful ores found during the canal tunnel’s construction that gave the name to Golden Valley. Although later roof falls made it necessary to close Butterley Tunnel, a long narrow lake that once held water to top up canal locks lower downstream, has settled into the countryside. It is popular with both walkers and anglers, some of whom were startled when their hook snagged an unexploded German bomb. Cottages, many of them once the homes of ironstone or coal miners exploiting the mineral wealth of Golden Valley. Codnor and Ironville are relics of that industrial past, but now mainly offer accommodation to those working in nearby factories dotted around the modern industrial estates. The walk starts from any one of the car parking spaces dotted around the valley road alongside Codnor Park Reservoir. Actual walking starts a few yards below the dam and follows a village street through Codnor, climbing out into open fields. Very soon a 70 foot high pillar comes into view; this is a memorial to William Jessop, civil engineer and canal builder, one of the founders of Butterley ironworks. An attractive feature for today’s visitor, it created great controversy when it was first proposed. Although it may not have pleased the pundits, it did however, soon become a popular attraction, with parties of school children coming out into the countryside and even train loads of visitors from as far afield as Sheffield. Following a farm lane, the way carries on beyond the pillar, past a farmhouse, until it reaches a crossing of four tracks where Codnor Castle’s ruins are a hundred yards or so further on, half right across a rough field. From the castle, another track to the left of the crossing, drops down towards the valley bottom and the railway line. This is crossed by way of a footbridge and the path now descends further through woodland until it reaches a dried up section of the canal. The towpath runs to the right towards Langley Mill; and to the left back to Codnor: this is the one we must follow. After passing beneath the railway line, the path swings to the left and then follows a straight track all the way back to the reservoir, where if luck is with you, there will be a portable refreshment cabin offering all things necessary to slake your thirst, or fill an empty gap in your stomach. The Walk : From the car park walk along the road towards the reservoir dam. Continue further for about 200 yards and turn right, uphill, along a side road through the built-up part of Codnor village. At the top of the village road, turn right at the junction with another road. Follow this as it swings left, uphill as a farm lane into lightly spaced trees. Lookout for the tall pillar of Jessop’s Monument. Also look out for a large circular concrete water tank above and to your left. Continue forwards to a four-way track junction and turn hard right. After a quick look at the monument and making the right hand turn, continue as far as a ‘T’ junction. Turn left here and follow the track, over a low rise for about half a mile to another four way track junction. Turn left here and begin to go downhill. Codnor Castle is directly to your front on the far side of a meadow reached by a stile. On the left of the track it is possible to get closer to the castle, but only as far as the surrounding fence. Continue down the track and then cross the footbridge over the railway line. Almost immediately cross a narrow footbridge over a drainage ditch. Walk on, past a narrow wood until you reach the abandoned canal. Follow the remnant of a towpath for a little over a mile alongside woodland covering the far side of the old canal. Bearing left, go under the railway and follow the towpath for a little under half a mile, past Codnor village on your left and Ironville to your right, as far as the canal’s dam wall. Continue along the road and back to your parked car. USEFUL INFORMATION An easy 4 mile (6.4km) rural walk along farm tracks and old canal tow paths. RECOMMENDED MAP Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Outdoor Leisure Explorer Sheet 269. Chesterfield and Alfreton. PUBLIC TRANSPORT Busses between Ripley and Alfreton via Leabrooks stop near the turning for Codnor. REFRESHMENTS Mobile kiosk usually parked above the reservoir. CAR PARKING Roadside along the south bank of Codnor Park Reservoir. 00
