Snake Pass, Peak District National Park May 23, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, Peak District, Royal Air Force, South Yorkshire.Tags: A57, Derbyshire, EGCC, Glossop, ICAO, Manchester Airport, National Park, Peak District National Park, Pennines, Sheffield, Snow, South Yorkshire, stream, UK, winter
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Snake Pass, A57 Glossop to Sheffield
I am from Derbyshire, and intensely proud of that fact. I am fortunate enough to be able to travel back fairly often, and visit friends and relations in the region. A few weeks ago, I landed at Manchester Airport (ICAO code, EGCC), the third-busiest airport in the UK and only a few miles from the boundary of the Peak District National Park. I have family in Sheffield on the other side of the Pennines.
I chose to travel the A57 road which runs from Glossop in Derbyshire to Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Part of this road forms the notorious Snake Pass, which winds it’s way through the National Park from west to east. Here you can see a typical piece of Peak District scenery on the A57, complete with pines and a rushing stream.
One thing the Snake Pass is notorious for is becoming blocked by snow, almost every winter, and its easy to see why!
Dry-stone walls, Derbyshire April 6, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, New England, Peak District, Prehistory.Tags: agriculture, architectural design, caravan, Carl Giles, cartoon, cartoonist, cattle, cattle pen, cultural link, Derbyshire, Dry Stone Walling Association, dry-stone wall, England, field boundaries, fields, flocks, foundation, France, frost, garden design, Germany, Giles family, Great Britain, harsh weather, herders, horizontal 'key', ice, key, livestock, maze, Middleton by Wirksworth, Millenium Wall, mobile studio, National Stone Center, Neolithic, New England, Peak District, Peak District National Park, predators, sheep, sheep folds, Sweden, thorn hedge, tour
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- Dry-stone walls, Derbyshire
Since Neolithic times, herders of sheep and cattle have sought to construct sheep folds and cattle pens to defend their livestock against predators. They also wished to define the limits of their own fields. Planting thorn hedges worked to an extent, but in harsh weather a dry-stone wall is best.
Cave Dale March 7, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, Great Britain, Peak District.Tags: bridle path, Castleton, Cave Dale, caverns, dale, Derby Ram, Derbyshire, Dove Valley, lead workings, limestone valley, Limestone Way, Matlock, Miller's Dale, Normans, outcroppings, Peak District, Peak District National Park, Peveril Castle, pitches, ridge, Rochester, rock climbing, Staffordshire, Tissington, walkers, Winster, Youlgrave
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Cave Dale, Castleton, Derbyshire
Here is a jewel of the Peak District National Park; Cave Dale is located immediately to the west of the ridge on which Peveril Castle stands. It is a steep sided limestone valley, or dale, in Derbyshire terms. Cave Dale’s steep sides are almost impossible for attackers to scale at this point, forming nearly sheer walls around 200 feet high, which is why the Normans (lead by William Peveril) chose this site for their castle. Underneath this dale, there are huge cave systems such as Peak Cavern, most of which can be accessed from Castleton. The dale is scattered with outcroppings of old lead workings, and some of these can be dangerous, so walkers need to be careful. Rock climbing enthusiasts enjoy the ‘pitches’ at the top end of the dale, as some of them are rated ‘Very Severe’.
If you look closely, you will see two walkers going down the dale, several hundred feet below you; they are on the Limestone Way, which goes from Castleton, all the way to Rochester in the Dove Valley in Staffordshire . The route is extremely interesting, affording many beautiful views of the Peak District, and includes such notable spots as Miller’s Dale, Youlgrave, Winster, Matlock, and Tissington (about 50 miles, in total). If you want to tread this pretty bridle path, then follow the small, green ‘Derby Ram’ signs!
Castleton – The George Hotel February 25, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Castles, Derbyshire, England, Great Britain, Peak District.Tags: Blue John, Castles, Castleton, caverns, Derbyshire, England, ghost, haunted, Hope Valley, hostelry, inn, King George II, licenced premises, malt whiskey, natal day, oak beams, Peak District National Park, Peveril Castle, pub grub, serving woman, single malt, steak and ale pie, The George Hotel, tourists, Visitor Center
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Castleton - The George Hotel
Since it is my natal day, I shall celebrate by re-visiting my beloved Derbyshire. Here is another shot of the small town (or large village) of Castleton in the Hope Valley. As you can see, Peveril Castle dominates the skyline from almost every angle, and, along with the caverns and Blue John jewellery, is the reason for the town’s economic existence. During the summer tourists easily outnumber the locals at weekends, and the recently constructed Visitor Centre is very busy.
The George Hotel is an excellent hostelry in the center of the town. The building dates from 1543, becoming licenced premises exactly 200 years later. The hotel sign depicts King George II, during whose reign the building was opened as an inn. It is, of course, haunted (the ghost of a young serving woman), and the lovely oak beams add a nice period touch to the atmosphere. I can recommend the food…especially the steak and ale pie. Oh, and don’t try and sample all their single malt whiskies at once – there are over 40 of them!
Codnor Park Reservoir….and ‘The Cut’ February 18, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Derbyshire, Prehistory, canals, railways, textiles.Tags: Derbyshire, Codnor, Second World War, coal, Midland Railway, Golden Valley, Langley Mill, Ambergate, Butterley Reservoir, Ironville, Codnor Park, Nottinghamshire, Riddings, anticline, Erewash Valley, Codnor Park Reservoir, iron, iron works, Esox lucius, pike, jack pike, canal, Cromford canal, steam train, legger, bargee, narrow-boat, stone axe, Prehistoric times, Lower Coal Measures, Middle Coal Measures, 'gob pit', bell pit, Industrial Revolution, roach, perch, bream, textile mills, Derwent Valley, Erewash Canal, canal tunnel, Butterley Tunnel, Newlands Inn, towpath, 'the Cut', horses, opencast mining, coarse fishing, railway companies, steel, Mediaeval
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Codnor Park Reservoir
The sky is blue, the clouds fluffy and people are fishing – a truly tranquil day. The location? Codnor Park Reservoir, just to the east of Golden Valley, Derbyshire. This was once an important part of the network of canals which facilitated the growth of the coal, iron and steel industries on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border, and helped forge the Industrial Revolution. Coal has been mined in this area from Mediaeval times; indeed, old ‘gob pits’ (a local name for the ‘bell pit’) make walking in the woods a dangerous occupation. There is fragmentary evidence to suggest that coal was mined in Prehistoric times (the presence of a stone axe in one of the shallow coal measures in this region, for example).
All this caused a rush to join the first textile mills of the Derwent Valley to the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill, via Ambergate and Butterley (with its ironworks). So the Cromford Canal was born. It ran into major difficulties (labour disputes and shareholder friction) and was only completed after some technical ‘wizardry’, including the then longest canal tunnel in Great Britain, Butterley Tunnel, which at the time of it’s building was 2,966 yards long. Although Butterley Reservoir fed the western end of the canal, the eastern end was fed by a small reservoir behind the former Newlands Inn at Golden Valley (locally called the ‘top reservoir’) and Codnor Park Reservoir. You can still find a way down to the old canal towpath, and view the blocked off eastern end of Butterley Tunnel. The canal (or ‘The Cut’ as it is called in Golden Valley) is heavily weeded, overhung by mature trees, and very shallow. Nothing at all like the later part of the 19th century, when full canal narrow-boats were propelled through the tunnel – not by horses, because there was no towpath inside the tunnel – but by ‘leggers’, men who laid on the top of the narrow-boats and propelled them along by ‘walking’ along the tunnel roof!
The canal is disused now; no cargoes of iron await shipment at the wharf, just over the Nottinghamshire border. No coal, from where the Riddings anticline brings both the Lower and Middle Coal Measures close to the surface and makes them easy to work, is available for loading (the last local pit is long gone, although opencast mining has been undertaken). The tunnel suffered a roof collapse and was closed in 1900. The eastern and western arms of the canal continued to carry cargo, but the Cromford Canal was closed totally in 1944, during the Second World War.
There is a scheme afoot to restore the canal, for leisure purposes. However, current financial circumstances might well scupper this excellent idea. Until then, the popularity of Codnor Park Reservoir will continue as a fine coarse fishing venue, with many fishing matches taking place during the season. Most anglers ‘weigh-in’ heavy hauls of roach, bream, and perch. There are, of course, local stories of a monster pike (Esox lucius) in ‘the Reser’, but the ones I caught as a boy were all fairly small ‘jack’ pike!
Sometimes you can hear the whistle of a preserved steam train as it travels down the branch line of the Midland Railway, on the opposite side of the reservoir, on its way to the end of the spur at Ironville. As well as a most delightful sight and sound, it also is a reminder of what killed the canals – the rise of the steam railway. In many cases, the new railway companies bought up canals, only to close them and force traffic onto the railways.
There is a close family connection here; not only was my mother born in Golden Valley, but one of my great-grandfathers was a ‘bargee’ (a captain of a canal barge), who had worked his way up from the humble position of ‘legger’ in the Butterley Tunnel.
A magical tree – the rowan February 11, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, Great Britain, Peak District, South Yorkshire.Tags: 'A Wizard's Staff Has A Knob On The End', apple, ash, Bombycilla garrulus, chutney, corymbs, cotoneaster, divining rod, England, European rowan, flower head, Fraxinus excelsior, fruit, Gaelic, garden, hawthorn, inflorescences, jam, jelly, kidney, magic wand, meat, mountain ash, parasorbic acid, pear, quince, Rosaceae, rowan, ruan, Rudha-an, sapient pearwood, Sheffield, sorbic acid, Sorbus aucuparia, South Yorkshire, Terry Pratchett, thrush, waxwing, witch wood, wizard's staff
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The rowan tree
The is something magical about the rowan tree (sometimes called the mountain ash). The way it changes the colour of it’s leaves in stages, the dense inflorescences of the flower heads and the subsequent startlingly bright bunches (or corymbs) of fruit. It is, without a doubt, one of the most popular trees of folklore, with many names – mountain ash, ruan, witch wood, Rudha-an (Gaelic for ‘red one’) etc. The rowan is found all over my native Derbyshire, especially in the Peak District.
The wood is dense and said to be the prefered material for a wizard’s staff (although the author Terry Pratchett says that sapient pearwood is prefered, see the song, ‘A Wizard’s Staff Has A Knob On The End’), and magic wands, and divining rods.
Despite the common name ‘mountain ash’, the tree is no relation at all to the ash, Fraxinus excelsior, being a member of the Rosaceae family and thereby related to the hawthorn, apple, pear, quince and cotoneaster. The example you can see here is of Sorbus aucuparia, the European rowan, and is standing outside my relatives’ home in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
The fruit of the rowan is a favourite of many birds such as various members of the thrush family, and the waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus. Since the berries contain high levels of parasorbic acid, a bitter chemical which can be harmful to humans (it can cause kidney damage), they are best not eaten raw. However, they can be eaten quite safely after cooking, (the heat alters the parasorbic acid to non-toxic sorbic acid) and are usually made into a tart jelly (for meats) or in a jam or chutney along with other fruit.
Beautiful Blue John jewellery February 7, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, Great Britain, Museums, Peak District.Tags: aqueduct, Blue John, bride, bridesmaid, candelabra, Castleton, caverns, Christies, credit card, Cross Street, Derbyshire, dynamite, England, flourspar, Frogmore House, gemstone, George III, House of Windsor, jewellers, jewellery, lead, Mam Tor, matron-of-honour, Matthew Boulton, metal, mineral, mines, museum, New York, Peak District National Park, Peveril Castle, Pompeii, Romans, Royal collection, semi-precious, vase, Victorian, wedding, white marble, Winnat's Pass
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Blue John jewellery
This is what Castleton is all about…not the brooding Peveril Castle, the staggering Winnat’s Pass, the hulking Mam Tor, but the caverns where the world’s only supply of a certain form of flourspar, called Blue John, is found. This striking gemstone was prized by the Romans, who mined this area for lead – one of their most treasured metals, used in their aqueducts, roofing amd much more – and found this sparkling semi-precious gemstone. Two vases of Blue John were supposedly found in the ruins of Pompeii.
Unfortunately, the Victorians mined it using dynamite, and huge spoil heaps were caused, underground. The largest Blue John pieces, including vases and tables, date from this period; indeed, what gemstone is being utilised by the modern jewellery workshops in town is, in the main, extracted from the Victorian spoil heaps.
There are two private museums featuring the mineral in Castelton, as well as other examples in collections around the country - it is interesting to note that Blue John pieces can command staggering prices. A pair of George III white marble and Blue John candelabra by Matthew Boulton, and dating from 1771 (similar to a pair in the Royal collection at Frogmore House) were sold by Christies in New York for $385,000. It is known that other pieces are held by the House of Windsor.
Here you can see a typical display case inside one of the stores on Cross Street, Castleton, Derbyshire. Although there are some malachite pieces, the vast majority of jewellery features Blue John stones, with its delightful random patterns of purple, royal blue, white, violet and yellow bands. It is customary amongst many Derbyshire families to give Blue John to the bride, matron-of-honour and bridesmaids at a wedding.
Be warned gentlemen; don’t take your lady into one of these shops without being prepared to suffer ‘damage’ to your credit card! As night follows day, she will be entranced.
A Derbyshire ‘traitor’? February 4, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, London, Museums, New England, United States.Tags: 'Father of the American Industrial Revolution', apprentice, Belper, Blackstone River, Blackstone River National Heritage Corridor, carding, cotton, Cromford, Derbyshire, Derwent Mills World Heritage Site, factory system, indenture, Jedediah Strutt, London, Milford, Moses Brown, museum, New England, New York, Pawtucket, President Andrew Jackson, Quaker, Rhode Island, River Derwent, Samuel Slater, Sir Richard Arkwright, spinning, textiles, UNESCO, USA, water power, World Heritage Site
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- Slater Mill, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
When is a ‘traitor’ not a ‘traitor’? When he’s ‘The Father of the American Industrial Revolution’?
‘And now, for something completely different….’ February 4, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, Derbyshire, RAF, Royal Air Force, aircraft.Tags: ABHCO, Aerospatiale, Army Air Corps, AugustaWestland, Aviation, Bell Jetranger, Carlise, composite main blades, Egypt, fenestron, Gazelle, helicopter, RAF, Royal Marines, Royal Navy, S341G, SOKO, Specialist Flight Training, Turbomeca Astazou, turboshaft engine, Yugoslavia
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- Aerospatiale SA341G Gazelle
Well, it might not be Monty Python, but it IS a helicopter – and what a helicopter! The Gazelle was a French design, first flown in 1967, which was successfully modified and built for all the British armed forces by Westland (later AugustaWestland). The Army Air Corps used it for armed battlefield reconnaissance, and the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Royal Marines used it for pilot and crew training. This version, the SA341G , is, however, a civil variant, powered by a Turbomeca Astazou IIIA turboshaft of 590 eshp. Seating five, the Gazelle was appreciable faster (145mph) than its main competitor, the Bell Jetranger, but also more expensive to operate. I have flown in a Gazelle, and they are markedly smoother than many helicopters of this generation, with absolutely none of the vibration-induced shaking of instruments which can happen with other rotorcraft. This is due, in the major part, to advanced composite main blades, and the enclosed, multi-blade tail rotor, called a ‘fenestron’, which also makes the helicopter much quieter.
Setting a pit prop…… February 1, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, Scotland, Wales.Tags: Blaeafon, coal, coalminer, Coleorton, colliery, dendrochronology, Derbyshire, England, First World War, France, geological problems, German Navy, Gwent, Lanarkshire, Leicestershire, Loscoe, Middle Ages, Nottingham University, oak, Ormonde Colliery, pit prop, prop setter, Pwll Mawr, Russia, Scottish coalfields, self-advancing roof supports, Sitka spruce, steel roof supports, Stirlingshire, Sweden, Wales
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Setting a pit prop, Pwll Mawr
The scene is deep underground in a Welsh coal mine, Pwll Mawr, Gwent. A miner is at the coalface, ’setting’ a wooden pit prop to hold up the roof, whilst he works to extract the coal. This is a temporary solution to hold back the millions of tons of rock above him. You can the the modern steel frames (with the spaces between them filled by wooden beams) further down the ‘roadway’.
Wood has been a vital part of mining since the Middle Ages. Indeed, a laboratory at Nottingham University used dendrochronology to establish that oak timbers found in a pit at Coleorton, Leicestershire dated from 1450.
During the First World War, the German Navy threatened the importation by sea from Sweden and Russia of the huge quantities of softwood pit props needed to keep the Scottish coalfields of Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire in production. Britain did not grow enough suitable wood of its own to keep the coal supply flowing. Indeed, in the 1960s UK forestry interests were still planting the rapid-growing Sitka spruce for use as pit-props, and large quantities of pit-props and pit-bars were being imported from France!
A wooden prop needs to be replaced after two or three years, as the rate of failure increases markedly after this time. The death-knell for the large scale use of the pip prop was the introduction of steel prop and roof arches from the 1920s, onwards. The modern ‘mechanised’ pit, with it’s self-advancing roof supports (as installed at Ormonde Colliery, Loscoe, Derbyshire, before it’s unfortunate closure due to geological problems) was the future.
