Monyash Peak District

Monyash Peak District Derbyshire, DE45 1JH, United Kingdom, 0845 166 8022, info@peakdistrictonline.co.uk

Monyash 4.5 Mile Round Walk

http://www.letsgo-monyash.co.uk

10:59 06-Sep-2010

WALK 2

MONYASH – LATHKILL DALE – CARTERS MILL – HADDON GROVE – MONYASH

Distance: Approximately 4 ½ miles

Lathkill Dale is a pearl in the Peak District crown – not only is it scenically beautiful with dramatic cliffs and crags, woodland dells, waterfalls and weirs where crystal pure water cascades, but there are vast areas of nature reserve and Sites of Special Scientific Interest containing rare wild flowers, flora and fauna - all this in a steep sided valley which was once ravaged and exploited for its minerals and rocks. Time and nature have healed over the scars that once decimated Lathkill Dale so that the redundant quarries, rakes and mines are now features of beauty and character.

Start the walk at Monyash and head out of the village on the Bakewell road, walking down the hill to the dip and the public toilets on your right. In the bottom of the hollow you go through the gate on your right and walk through a series of fields where cattle and sheep are often grazing.

This is the start of Lathkill Dale and soon you will leave the open pasture and descend into a narrow and rocky gorge with the remains and spoil heaps that were once part of Ricklow Quarry where crinoidal limestone was extracted and polished into grey marble that was mainly for ornamental use in Victorian times.

Continue down the dale, crossing a stile beneath the bows of a low tree and descend into a deep section of dale with areas set aside for nature conservation. Carefully make your way through the rocks and stones which line the path.

You will now reach Lathkill Head Cave where the famous crystal pure waters of the Lathkill River emerge from their subterranean course. The true source is between Flagg and Monyash around the area of Knotlow Mines. After extremely wet spells and when the water table rises, there is also a flow of water from a small cave on the opposite bank.

The Lathkill eventually joins forces with the Bradford at Alport and then flows on to the Wye at Rowsley and shortly afterwards unites with the Derwent.

Just after the cave there is a headland of limestone on your left which is known as Parsons Tor, named after Robert Lomas the then vicar of Monyash who fell to his death from his horse in 1776 when returning late one night from Bakewell in a drunken state.

A ballad, written by the Rev. W R Bell for Mr Jewitt’s Reliquary in the 19^th century portrayed the events that night. After dining with the Vicar of Bakewell until quite late, Robert Lomas picked up his horse from the White Horse hostelry (now the Rutland Arms Hotel) and set off for home:

“As he rode up the hill, past All Saint’s Church

The moon just one glance bestowed

And the weird-like form of the old stone cross

In the churchyard dimly showed

Still higher and higher he climbed the hill

Yet more and more dark it grew

The drizzling rain became sleet as he climbed

And the wind more keenly blew

Ah! Thick was the mist on the moor that night

Poor wight! He had lost his way!

The north-east wind blowing strong on his right

To the left had made him stray

And now he was close to lone Haddon Grove

Bewildered upon the moor

Slow leading his horse that followed behind

Himself groping on before

Still onward and leeward, at last he came

To the edge of Harlow Dale

From his cave Lathkill a warning roared

But loader then howled the gale

On the brink of Fox Torr the doomed man stood

And tugged the bridle in vain

But the horse would not move, then quick started back

And snap went each bridle rein!

Then headlong fell he o’er the lofty cliff

He shrieked and sank in the gloom

Down, down to the bottom he swiftly sped

And death was his dreadful doom

The dead man lay cold on the blood-stained rocks

The darkness did him enshroud

And the owls high up in the ivy-clad Torr

Bewailed him all night full loud

Oh dread was the death of the luckless man

Not soon will it be forgot

The dismal story, for ages to come

Will often be told, I wot

You may not now see in Monyash town

The dead man’s sear tuft of grass

But still it is there in memory stored

And thence it never shall pass

You may not now find Fox Torr by that name

The swain has known it no more

But pointing thereat from Lathkill grot

He’ll show you the Parson’s Tor”

It is said that the tuft of grass taken from the dead man’s grasp could be found in a glass bottle in Monyash church until sometime in the last century when it was inadvertently thrown out.

Continue down the dale, passing the little bridge which takes a footpath over the river to Cales Dale. After a further stony section of path you will see dramatic cliffs and crags where rooks and crows nest in nooks and crannies amid the ivy and bleached white limestone. The lower sides of the dale have areas of exposed small stones which are known as slitherbanks. They have been created by the constant erosion by water, frost and weathering over thousands of years.

Cross over a wall stile and follow the path around the corner. The river, which until now has been hiding beneath a tangle of long grass, reeds and stones, suddenly drops over a waterfall known locally as the tufa cascade and opens out into a tranquil mill pond with ducks and dippers.

Follow the riverside path to the remains of Carters Mill, where you can still find discarded grinding stones embedded in the ground. The old iron waterwheel which operated them was removed for scrap during the Second World War.

Do not go through the gate and towards the wood, but turn left and follow the path up the hillside. The old mill track will twist and turn before passing through a farmyard and emerging onto a narrow lane which leads from Over Haddon to Haddon Grove.

Turn left and follow the lane around the corner by the entrance to the campsite and then straight ahead until you come to the first gateway on your left. Go over a stile by the side of the gate and follow the path straight ahead, keeping to the wall side.

Cross a further stile with a farmstead on your left and drop down to cross over yet another stile in the wall on the far side of the gateway. The footpath now crosses a series of fields and high stiles on a well-used path with the wooded knoll of Ringham Low on your left.

Eventually you will drop down a bank on the upper part of Ricklow Dale and cross over a wall before climbing up the bank opposite and finally emerging onto the road at the top of the hill before Monyash. Turn left and WITH EXTREME CARE follow the road around the sharp bend and head back into the village.