Hoe Grange Time Travellers Trail

Transport Trail Summary Meet the ancestors of Hoe Grange Mostly easy going, largely follow- ing surfaced bridleways, farm tracks Distance and minor roads. Two potentially rough and muddy sections, boots 12.5km are a good idea. There are numer- 8 miles ous farm gates – please leave gates Allow and property as you fi nd them. Hoe Grange Start and fi nish: How We Ate...... BlackwellTime Travellers 4+hr car park, about 1 km (half on foot a mile) south of Pikehall. OS Trail Explorer. Map, OL 24. SK 195 582. Diffi culty Access: You need your own transport to get to this trail. Once here, there are farm stay B&Bs available and you can even bring your own horse to stay at Hoe Grange to enjoy the local bridleways. By car: Park at Minninglow car park. Pikehall is on the A5012 to Newhaven road.

Discover what archaeology can tell us about the history of the land. The route is steeped in history from Neolithic farmers to Victorian Railwaymen.

Part-funded by the European Union European Regional This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Controller HMSO. Crown Development Fund Copyright. All Rights Reserved. National Park Authority. License No. LA 100005734. 2005 Hoe Grange Time Travellers Trail

Transport Start: Minninglow Car Park Keep going along the surfaced trail. Notice the Continue along the trail. Meet the ancestors of HoeCircular Grange. walk Your of route roughly built up embankments in the valley ahead. today is steeped in farming4½ and km industrialalong moder- history. 3. Brick Kilns and Limekilns From Neolithic, Bronze Ageately and easy Romano-British tracks through 2. farmers to medievalDistance monks,streamside Victorian woodlandrailwaymen Can you guess what this contraption used to be? and modern- and heather moorland, (Toot toot!) The High Peak Cromford to Whaley day farmers, 4 km Bridge rail line opened in 1831. Trains carried including some ascents. they’ve all 3 miles milk from local farms to the big dairies, and lime- had a hand in Option to add a 2½ km stone, silica sands and bricks. Railway workers creating the Allow round trip through the dreaded the steep inclines and notorious tight landscape National Trust’s Long- curves. It could take 16 hours to travel 33 miles. you travel 2hr shaw Estate via a tea They latched on to stationary steam engines that today. room and shop in a hauled the carriages up on hawsers (pictured Roystone Grange below). One winter it took over 300 men to clear Diffi culty former hunting lodge. snow off the line! Limekiln (top left corner of photo) Trail Summary Trail Leave the car park at the opposite end to the woodland path. Cross the road and join the High The quarry opened soon after the railway - as Peak Trail/, signed to Middleton Take a look at the whiteboard in the information soon as stone could be taken for sale. Victorian Top. centre to see what to look out for during your quarry workers drilled out the limestone, and visit today. There’s a list of seasonal species and used narrow gauge trolleys to take it to the main 1. Viewing prehistory recently spotted visitors. There are also displays rail line. The dolomite-rich limestone made good The hilltops you see for the fi rst mile or so were about work going on in the reserve and some building stone. Most quarry workers farmed lo- once home or work sites for prehistoric farm- lovely photographs of the wildlife. cally too. ers and hunters. Archaeologists found delicately Bird books for reference and leafl ets about the worked fl int tools here, where Neolithic and reserve’s activity fun days and schools Look for the Victorian limekiln below you to the Bronze Age people dropped them. programmes are available too. left of the embankment (pictured above). Burnt lime fertilized the fi elds to improve pastures and Greenfi nches, chaffi nches, great tits and blue tits agricultural yields. all use the feeders in the picnic area by the car park – even the occasional woodpecker. The circular brick kiln with the brick fl oor on the other side of the trail also dates from the mid 1800s. Nearby Minninglow Farm boasts special Minninglow Neolithic silica-rich sands that are very resistant to heat. The tomb seen from the High Peak Trail One of a suite of downloadable trails available from www.peak-experience.org.uk 2 Hoe Grange Time Travellers Trail

Transport heat-resistant bricks made ideal furnace linings ancestors. off ers accommodation for guests and your for nearby Sheffi eld’s many steelworks. horses! Stabling and livery facilities complement When the recently built eco-lodges. You can even Victorian arrange to use a hot tub under the stars. (Day Distance antiquarian visitors as well as staying guests can arrange this Thomas by phoning in advance.) 4 km Bateman www.hoegrangeholidays.co.uk excavated Cyclists should dismount for this section through Minninglow farmland and all visitors should shut all the gates Allow in 1851, he behind them. There will probably be cows discovered someone had been there before grazing here. him. He found only a few pieces of ancient hu- man bone, many recent animal bones and some Go through the Hoe Grange gate (marked private) Brick Kiln Diffi culty Romano-British coins and pottery sherds. and cut diagonally across the fi eld heading for the bottom far left, skirting a clump of trees to your Trail Summary Trail If you are on foot, you can take a detour to More recent excavations have found skulls with- right. Turn right after the trees, through a metal explore Minninglow Neolithic chambered tomb. out bodies, perhaps Neolithic. At this time it was fi eld gate and join the pale stony farmtrack. Fol- Go left off the main trail, signed as a concession common to bring the bodies of dead ancestors to low the track up hill passing through a few further route to Minninglow. community celebrations. gates. As the track peters out, you are facing vast Ballidon quarry. If you are on a horse or bike, continue along the To rejoin the bridleway either retrace your steps, bridleway to point 5, pick up the trail directions or follow along the fi eld wall under the barrow The large fi elds on your right have been farmed when you reach the DCC High Peak Trail sign. to a tall wooden waymarker. Turn right and cut for many generations and you can still see traces down through the fi eld to join a farm track. Turn of medieval ridge and furrow ploughing marks 4. Minninglow Burial Barrow right along this rutted track and follow it back to when the grass is low. Medieval walls were re- Distinctive, fl at-topped, Minninglow is visible from the High Peak Trail. Turn left on the trail. moved one generation ago to create large fi elds many of the major prehistoric sites for machine ploughing. in the Peak District. Take your time Stop just after the DCC High Peak Trail sign at to explore the site. the Hoe Grange wooden gate on your right, and Follow the line of the wall to a clump of trees look down to the farm below. below you passing 2 ponds to your left. Curve Neolithic people created impres round the trees towards the quarry to the sive chambered tombs to stake a 5. Hoe Grange Farm bottom fi eld wall. Follow the wall down to the claim to the land and honour their This beautifully located working dairy farm bottom corner gate. Go left and follow the stony

One of a suite of downloadable trails available from www.peak-experience.org.uk 3 Hoe Grange Time Travellers Trail

Transport 8.8.track8. down Medieval MedievalMedieval hill to farm farmjoinfarm the traces tracestraces Roystone Grange They found a coin dated AD77 and imported red tarmac road. Turn right alongCircular the walkroad, ofuntil roughly you Samian pottery. reach a chapel-like building4½ kmon your along left. moder- ately easy tracks through In the 3rd to 4th centuries a smaller building was 6. MedievalDistance Grange andstreamside Pump House woodland built over the manor. We don’t know whether it and heather moorland, had turf or limestone walls. By then, the luxury 4 km including some ascents. foreign goods were gone, replaced with cheap 3 miles local imitations of fashionable pottery! Option to add a 2½ km Allow round trip through the Excavations revealed Romano-British terraced National Trust’s Long- fi elds on the hillside to your left. You can also see 2hr shaw Estate via a tea traces of lead mining on the opposite hillside (as room and shop in a and the Black Death took so many lives that a hollows in the ground). Peak District lead was a Diffi culty heavy burden fell on those who remained. In great attraction to the Romans. former hunting lodge. some cases whole farmsteads or villages died. Trail Summary Trail Continue along the road. Riders beware the The chapel-like building (pictured above) housed Continue along the road and pass through the cattle grid! There is a gate to the left of it. a large pump. An interpretation board on the farm. Minninglow barrow is now to your right. At the pump house tells you more about how to dis- T-junction go left along the surfaced road. At the cover traces of the old medieval farm in the lumps 7. Romano-British Farmstead next junction there’s a choice. Tired walkers could and bumps on the ground here. The farm was Here landscape clues reveal a Romano-British simply go right to return to Minninglow car park. excavated by archaeologists from the University farming community. These farmers were almost To follow the route map, cross the tarmac road of Sheffi eld (pictured above right). certainly local people living under the new and continue on the bridleway signed to Biggin. Roman rule, not foreign invaders. There’s been a farm in this area for at least 1,000 8. The Nook (farm on your left) years. The medieval Grange was owned by Archaeologists found remains of round-cornered, The 1841 Census mentions 3 families living at Cistercian monks and farmed by rectangular, aisled-houses dating from the 2nd Cobbler’s Nook near Gotham, all with the sur- members of the monastic order century, including an impressive manor house name Richard. The eldest couple are farmers or tenant farmers, such as about 20 x 12 metres. You can see this preserved and, confusingly, two 30-year-old John Richards Rowland Babyngton in the 1530s. as a terraced platform with short posts marking are listed separately as a wheelwright and farm In the 1300s farming grew harsh. the original timber posts that supported the roof. labourer. Each is married and they have four Wool prices dropped in Europe, They found a coin dated AD77 and imported red children apiece – were they brothers with the there was a wave of bad summers Samian pottery. same name?! A manservant and maidservant are

One of a suite of downloadable trails available from www.peak-experience.org.uk 4 Hoe Grange Time Travellers Trail

Transport the only non-Richards in a hamlet of 18 people. If you would like to stay at a guest house of B&B Circular walk of roughly in this area please visit www.visitpeakdistrict.com Continue along the track.4½ At kma fork, along turn rightmoder- off for a list of accommodation. the track, go through a metalately gate easy or tracks over the through wall stile. JoinDistance the straightstreamside track to the woodland hillcrest, Hoe Grange is a working farm where you can stay where you pass woodlandand on heather your left. moorland,At the hill- in one of their eco-lodges. They even have stables 4 km so that you can bring your horse and make the top, pause and look backincluding at Minninglow some opposite. ascents. 3 miles most of the area’s network of bridleways. See 9. Enclosure MovementOption Fields to add a 2½ km Among the big old trees of the avenue, you’ll spot www.hoegrangeholidays.co.uk for details. The large highAllow fi elds wereround enclosed trip for through livestock the beech, chestnut, ash, lime, sycamore... all pasture in the 1800s whenNational common Trust’s land was Long- providing shelter, habitat and For more information about the archaeology of abolished. They2 arehr latershaw than smallEstate valley-bot- via a tea food to fungi (photo above), the area, especially the many diff erent sites tom fi elds. room and shop in a insects and birds. surveyed and excavated on Roystone Grange, vis- it www.peak-experience.org.uk. The Grange has Diffi culty former hunting lodge. At a three-way junction, go right, signed Green The hamlet grew up around an ancient crossroads, its own walking trail available to download online Trail Summary Trail Lane. Cross over the cycle way to Gotham and go where the Roman to Derby road (The which contains more details of the archaeological all the way to Pikehall. Street) crossed the later turnpike road, the Via Gel- discoveries. lia. Many of the village houses began life as coach- To avoid the brief section of A-road at Pikehall, ing inns or pubs to serve travellers. We hope you enjoyed your trip! Please tell your you could go right and return to Minninglow car friends. park on the cycleway via Gotham. Turn right along the A-road, go past a farm and turn right up a wide farmtrack. Follow the track all There are more Peak Experience self-guided trails 10. Pikehall the way to Mouldridge Lane country road. Turn for you to download at This small hamlet is unusual for being split right onto the road and it’s a few hundred metres www.peak-experience.org.uk between several parishes. The community hosts (uphill!) back to the car park where you started. two highly entertaining Harness Racing events Inspired by the landscape? Send us photos or each year (June and July), and a stories from your walk to share with others on 3-day music festival. Credits. www.MyPeakExperience.org.uk. And if you or For dates, see: Text: Georgia Litherland. Photos: Georgia Lither- your children were inspired to create poetry, www.parwich.org/village/ land, Bill Bevan, Felicity Brown, Bob Turner, Ray songs, paintings or drawings we’d love to see pikehall. Manley (PDNPA) and PDNPA Cultural Heritage them too. Team.

One of a suite of downloadable trails available from www.peak-experience.org.uk 5