
Children will love this walk, for where else can they visit three counties within a matter of seconds? The highlight of the walk is the bridge known as Three Shire Heads, where Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire all meet at a point in the middle of an ancient pack horse bridge over the River Dane. To reach it means following moorland tracks radiating from Flash, the highest village in England, although some claim it to be the highest in Britain, backing it with a road sign erected by no less an adjudicator than the Peak District National Park Authority. Winter starts early in Flash and lingers long after spring has arrived in more sheltered places. The wind is keen but refreshing and the views far ranging. Counterfeiters once carried out their nefarious trade in remote farmhouses around Flash and its name has since become linked to any suspicious or ‘flashy’ object. During the first half of the 19th century the population of the parish was around 700; but it had reduced to around half of that by the end of the 1800s, and even less today. Most of those living there at that time were either agricultural labourers, roughly the same number of coal miners, stone masons, a dressmaker, blacksmiths and cordwainers (shoemaker who used fresh leather), an errand boy, wheelwright, gamekeeper, grocer, pedlar and even a tailor as well as a brewer and a number of house servants. Following them were 275 young people and 50 scholars. Not everyone could find regular employment and at one time almost a quarter of the population were drawing relief from the parish. Most of the village’s working inhabitants commute to Leek and Buxton, or further these days. Nowadays Flash still has its own little brewery and a small general store attached to the...







