Out & About: White Edge and Lady's Cross

Monday, 22 August 2011

White Edge and Lady's Cross

This week we went looking for a couple of Derbyshires Stoops (These are old stone signposts dating from the 1600's, normally placed at the junction of old tracks or packhorse routes) on White edge Moor.
Parking on the A625 we walked up the hill about quarter of a mile past the Grouse Inn. (Note for future ref there is a lay by at The Grouse Inn).
We followed the footpath up through the woods and onto the fringes of White edge moor.
The first interesting object is marked on the map as a Hurkling Stone. Apparently there are several of these in Derbyshire but they are usually groups of stones or rocks but this one is a single slab of a rock. The only explanation i have seen for Hurkling Stone is that of a group of stones or crouching stone. I wonder if it means a place to shelter.

Geoff Ike & Rob at the Hurkling Stone

We plodded on looking for the Stoops with no luck so we headed off to find Lady's Cross on Big Moor. We did see a few deer just a hundred yards or so away from the Hurkling Stone.

Deer on Big Moor

We eventually got to Lady's Cross and were soon pondering its past use.
It turns out to be a medieval boundary marker for an ancient crossroads dating back from around 1263.
Its a grade 2 listed monument and was scheduled in 1951.
There are still visible inscriptions on the base "IR 1618 and initials MB".

Geoff at Lady's Cross

After finding the Lady's Cross we spotted a structure that could be a stoop so we set off through the heather (no footpath or track) until we found this upright stone and a slab bridge over Barbrook which were obviously very old. No markings on the stone so it couldn't be a stoop. It was a nice spot for breakfast so we perched on the bridge and had our fill.