Along our route today …

We first visited churchyard where we stopped for coffee. The church looked half house, half church but the church door was locked, so we couldn’t look inside. After passing the single arch that remains of Dale Abbey, we then headed across Dale Moor toward Stanton-by- Dale with wide views as far as & the outskirts of Nottingham. It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day!

Lunch stop was under the trees in the woods by Hall and the return journey went through the quiet and attractive village of . There was a chance of a cream tea in the Village Hall but we had only just had our lunch.

The old part of Ockbrook was established by Occa an Anglo Saxon, around the 6th century, and a new part, called the Moravian Settlement was founded in 1750. It is one of only three in the country.

The Moravians are a Christian sect originating from the Morava River area of the Czech Republic and had been a great influence in the work of John Wesley. They obeyed a strict religious code. Men and women had to enter the chapel by separate doors according to the strict segregation rule of the order. The settlement consists of a row of delightful red brick Georgian buildings, in the centre of which is a pedimented chapel, and an adjacent school. The school was built in 1799 and is now a boarding school for girls.

When the Moravians first arrived some of the local people did not like the idea of a new church in their village and pulled down several layers of bricks and caused considerable damage. All is peaceful now and the settlement beautifully compliments the rest of the village. There are also some fine views towards the south of from the settlement. We saw the white tower of the Chapel from across the fields earlier in the day.

Jon Hus, a Bohemian Christian reformer was burned at the stake in 1415. His followers founded their church in Moravia in 1457. 300 years later the Moravian community was set up in Ockbrook after a local farmer, Isaac Frearson, who was visiting Nottingham, was inspired by the preaching of Jacob Rogers at the Market Cross.

The principal buildings of the Moravian Settlement are built in a formalised arrangement and in- clude two Grade II listed buildings - the Moravian Chapel and The Manse. Adjoining these is the Ockbrook Moravian School, a very old established private school for girls.

The Chapel - built in 1751-52 The Girls’ School - opened in 1799

During the first World War the buildings were used as an Auxilliary hospital by the Red Cross and many soldiers came here for recuperation. They are now used by groups from the Community as well as by the congregation themselves.