Miller's Dale

April 11, 2018.

MEAL MILL AT MILLER’S DALE, WYE VALLEY, RAVENSTOR YOUTH HOSTEL, LITTON MILL, CRANSIDE WOOD NATURE RESERVE, CRESSBROOK MILL, RAVENSDALE, TANLEY DALE, HOLBORN HOUSE, THE RED LION AT LITTON, HONEYPOT COTTAGE, TIDESWELL SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS, TIDESWELL DALE, WYE VALLEYAND THE ANGLERS REST AT MILLER’S DALE

Distance: Eight miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Cloudy but dry with some mist on the hills.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Alan Hart, Chris Owen and George Whaites.

Non-walking drinker: Jock Rooney with Tip.

Apologies: Alastair Cairns (wife’s birthday), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman  (beauty treatment), Mark Gibby (exhausted), Hughie Hardiman (filial duties), Steve  Kemp  (poorly)

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Lay-by next to site of Meal Mill at Miller’s Dale, Derbyshire.

Starting time: 10.07am. Finishing time: 2.21pm.

The route for this walk along the Wye Valley took us past three historic mills, which each provided an insight into the history of this picturesque part of the Peak District. Any hills we had to climb were gentle and we were grateful that a large proportion of our journey was on tarmac rather than through the ankle-deep mud found on many footpaths at this time of year.

Colin’s leadership demonstrated two distinct styles. In the first half he resembled a sheepdog as he urged his flock along from the rear. After Pietime he shot off ahead with Tom leaving the rest of us to follow in their vapour trail. They had surged in front when a group of women arrived at a tricky part of the path from the opposite direction. As the rest of the Wanderers exercised chivalrous respect for the weaker sex (Julian: Is this PC ?), Colin and Tom weaved round them and disappeared into the mist.

Happily we chased them down and Colin remembered his duties to guide the group safely to the pub for a livener. In The Red Lion at Litton we were joined by Jock and Tip. We were pleased to see the former, who has long-term injury problems, and Tip was overjoyed to see us.

Earlier we had assembled outside the site of Miller’s Dale Meal Mill, whose water wheel is now stationary and covered in weeds. In its heyday it was used to grind meal for animal fodder. It was owned by the Duke of Devonshire and worked by several generations of the Dakin family. The freehold was bought in the 18^th Century and it was run by two brothers until they both died in the winter of 1912/13. The mill closed in 1920.

With the mill on our right we walked uphill passing The Anglers Rest on our left. Once again there was no apostrophe to indicate how many anglers rested there. Are the police powerless to stop this crime against English grammar ? When will the Home Secretary act ?

Soon the River Wye was on our right as we passed the entrance to Ravenstor Youth Hostel on our left (18mins) before reaching Litton Mill (23mins)

This was set up in 1782 by two farmers who found difficulty in hiring a workforce from the farm labourers in the sparsely-populated area. It became notorious for its use of The Poor Law Act of 1601 which provided for “the putting out of children to be apprentices.”

A churchwarden, or beadle, would agree with an employer to give work training to a pauper. At Litton Mill these urchins worked long hours in dangerous conditions, were given bad food and they were beaten and abused. So many children died that their bodies were taken to many churchyards outside Litton to be buried in paupers’ graves without drawing undue attention. The plight of such paupers was highlighted by journalist and author Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist.

Litton Mill was damaged by fire in 1874 and bought by Matthew Dickie, a Stockport millowner, in 1893. He also took over nearby Cressbrook Mill and set up The Litton and Cressbrook Mills Company. Dickie had Ravenstor built as his family home in Miller’s Dale and it passed into The National Trust in 1937 with 64 acres of land before being leased to The Youth Hostels Association.

After passing the mill building, which has since been converted into apartments, we continued along the trail into Cranside Wood Nature Reserve (31mins). Because of work on The Monsal Trail we were diverted left (45mins) and passed Cressbrook Mill on our right (48mins)

This was constructed alongside the Wye by Richard Arkwright, a pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, and later bought by Henry McConnel, who built a model village in Cressbrook. His descendant, David Cannon McConnel, emigrated to Australia in 1840 and established the Cressbrook Homestead in Queensland.

After passing the mill we reached a road and turned left uphill. When we approached the summit at a sign for Ravensdale we paused for pies, port and damson gin provided by Chris (57mins). Resuming, we followed the road marked “Ravensdale No Through Road” and crossed a wooden footbridge over Cress Brook (84mins)

We went through a wooden gate (95mins) and re-crossed the brook by a wooden footbridge on our left (102mins) to enter Tanley Dale. We went through a wooden gate marked with a yellow arrow(111mins). The path took us to a metal gate (114mins) which we went through and turned left for 30 yards before going right over a stone step stile.

After crossing a field we reached a row of cottages and turned left over a stone step stile to exit the field (118mins). We passed Holborn House on our left and forked right away from the main road to pass Litton Primary School on our right and reach The Red Lion on our right (121mins)

This was a traditional country pub which in recent times has adapted itself to the demand for meals. Bakewell cask bitter was in good form but cost an eye-watering £3-90 a pint.  A list of landlords showed that Thomas Sellers and his descendants had run the pub from 1787 until 1861.

Suitably refreshed we turned right out of the pub passing Honeypot Cottage, built in 1828, on our right. We reached a main road (135mins) and turned left, passing Tideswell Sewage Treatment Works on our right (139mins). We crossed the road to follow a wooden public footpath sign(140mins) which brought us to public toilets (144mins) Here we again encountered Jock, whom we had left in the pub, loitering with Tip.

After pausing for lunch at a bench next to the toilets, we continued, turning right over a wooden footbridge (149mins). The path took us through a wooden gate (157mins) into Tideswell Dale. We crossed another wooden footbridge (160mins) and went right through a car park (162mins) to reach a lane and turn left.

After passing the entrance to Ravenstor Youth Hostel on our right (168mins) we reached The Anglers Rest on our right (179mins). Here the Tetleys’ cask bitter and The Farmers Blonde were in fine fettle at £3 a pint.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.35am from the car park of The Little Mill Inn at Rowarth. We intend to reach The Lantern Pike Inn at Little Hayfield to knock the froth off a couple around 12.15pm before returning for a final pint at The Little Mill at about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !