With the sun rising at 8:17am our departure time today was 8:00am so we thought we would have a quick visit to Crich Stand. We got there just as the sun was just back lighting some clouds.
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| St. Mary's Church Crich |
We parked on the main road and walked along a new footpath to the bottom gate which leads up to the Memorial Tower.
First encounter was a friendly donkey no doubt looking for some food.
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| Hungry donkey |
After "chatting to the donkey" we walked up to the stand, the wind was blowing and howling and it felt very cold. The views from the top were spectacular. As well as the stand there is a beacon and a trig point on this hill.
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| Riber castle visible on the horizon |
Roman coins and artefacts have been found around the site
at Crich Stand where they once mined for lead. In 1734 there were several lime
kilns near the footpath that was used by Salt merchants transporting there
goods by mule or packhorse's from the Cheshire area.
The hill was the
site of a beacon in 1588 where it was used to signal the sighting of the
Spanish armada in the English Channel. It was lit again to celebrate Drake’s stunning
victory.
A wooden tower was erected in 1760 to commemorate the
accession of King George 111. After several years of disrepair it was replaced by a stone tower
in 1788 by Francis Hurt the local Lord of the Manor. This tower was rebuilt in
1849 and finished in time for the great exhibition of 1851.
After a landslide that made the tower unsafe, it had to
be rebuilt again in 1922, being completed in 1923. The beacon on the top of the
tower was installed in 1934 and consisted of a 75,000 candle power lamp.
Since August 1923 the tower has been the memorial to the
Sherwood Foresters Regiment.
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| Crich Stand silhouetted against the morning sky. |
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| Geoff, Rob & Ike |
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| This stone beacon was built in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth 11 |
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| This stone beacon was built in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth 11 |
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| The Stone Beacon with the Crich Memorial Stand in the background |
The old Derby Assembly Rooms was built between 1765 and 1774. After a fire in 1963 the facade was stripped down and relocated to the Crich Tramway Village and was opened in 1974..
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We had a stroll down to the front of the Crich Tramway Village
with good views of the old Derby Assembly rooms
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| Another view of St. Mary's Church |
After Crich we still had plenty of time so we thought we'd have a trip around to Lumsdale. After all the rain we've had the waterfalls should be in full flow.
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| A keen photographer at work |
Lumsdale valley waterfalls and ruined mill
buildings. Some of these old mills are thought to date from the 16th century. These spectacular waterfalls are in a remote narrow
valley in Lumsdale near Matlock in Derbyshire. The millpond at the top of the
valley is at an elevation of some 598ft and by the time it gets down several
falls it levels out at about 350 ft. The water comes from the Bentley brook and
it was used to power water mills in the 16th century, pre dating the world
famous Cromford mills which are just a few miles down the road. There are still
several ruins of the old mill buildings which are now under the protection of
the Arkwright Society.
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| This shot shows the extent of the waterfall system |
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| This is from the top looking down. |
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| The upper Pond |
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| The upper pond |
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| Mill cottages |
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| This flue is now visible only because they have removed a couple of huge tree's from in front of it |
Another cracking morning, cold and windy up on Crich Stand, calm and a lot warmer down in Lumsdale.
Just settle down now and get ready for Xmas.
Merry Christmas to all
Cheers
Jim
