The Ingleby Caves & Foremarke Hall

There was a TV show on last week which featured the Ingleby Caves. These are only a few miles south of Derby so that's where we went.
We parked just off the road close to the entrance to Foremarke Hall with the footpath sign just across the road.
We got our first view of the hall while crossing a wheat field.

Foremarke Hall is a Georgian-Palladian country house and manor house. Completed in 1762, the Hall is located at the manor (hamlet) of Foremark, near the hamlets of Ingleby, Ticknall, Milton, and the village of Repton in South Derbyshire, England.

It is the current home of the Repton Preparatory School. Before becoming the Preparatory School, Foremarke Hall was the ancestral home of the Burdett family of Bramcote. It is a Grade 1 listed building.

Trekking through a wheat field

A great view of Foremarke Hall

In the 1950s, two coal-fired power stations were built on a site off Twyford Road, between Willington and Findern. The stations were privatised and sold to National Power in the early 1990s and eventually closed in the mid-1990s. Although most of the stations were demolished at the turn of the millennium, the five cooling towers continue to dominate the skyline of the local area.

Willington power station - now closed down and will probably be demolished

The track to the caves sometimes got a bit muddy

 Set in a Sandstone crag nearby, overlooking Black Pool, are 4 interconnected caves known as Anchor Church. The Outcrop once formed the southern bank of the River Trent and the caves were partly formed by the action of river water on the soft rock , and partly cut out by hand. One legend says St. Hardulph used to live and pray here around 6th -7th century. The caves were also a favourite haunt of Sir Francis Burdett who enlarged the caves to their present size, fitted a door and used it as a summer dining room for picnic parties from Foremark Hall.

Geoff at the first cave

 The name Anchor Church is derived from the term Anchorite(from the Greek ἀναχωρέω anachōreō, "to withdraw" or "to depart into the countryside") because it is thought to have been the cell of an Anchorite hermit, St Hardulph, who lived and prayed here in the 6th and 7th century. The nearby church atBreedon on the Hill is dedicated to this saint. In the Middle Ages, the caves were used by a monk named Bernard, who died here whilst doing penance for his involvement in some unknown crime. Records of the caves exist from 1658 when it is mentioned in Repton church records.^[4] William Woolley, writing around 1715, said: “About half a mile eastward (from Foremark Hall), upon the side of the Trent, is a large cave dug out of a rock in the form of a chapel, called Anker church. It has been, as tradition informs us, an anchorite’s cell and it really is a most solitary, pleasant place”. D P Davies, in 1811, described the caves: “Several excavations, or cells, which communicate with each other and give a probability to the tradition of its having been the residence of an anchorite; whence it has derived the name of Anchor Church.”

Ike at the main cave site.

The front "door" and picture windows

Geoff

The Ingleby Cave complex

And through the oval window we can see Ike and Rob with Willington power station in the background

This is the view the hermits would have had. (minus the power lines of course)

Rob likes messing about in the mud.

A view from the hilltop overlooking the river Trent.

A sharp intake of breath from Geoff.

Another view of the Trent

The track took us through Heath Woods where there are the remains of 59 viking burial mounds

A view of Foremarke Hall

Lake in the grounds of Foremarke Hall

Frontal view of Foremarke Hall

Another view of the lake

Wheat field and power station

Rob 

Breakfast stop at St. Saviour's Church

 St Saviour's is a little gem of a church that too many people miss. Tucked away up a farm track it is the same age as the Book of Common Prayer, having been consecrated in 1662. Thought to be of great historical significance, the church has retained box pews, triple decker pulpit, and period screen with interesting glass, concealing wall benches around the  Altar.  It was one of the first churches to be built in England after the Restoration of the Monarchy.  Some believe it may have been the first, after the Protectorate's ban on church-building was lifted.It was the Estate Church for the Burdett family of nearby Foremarke Hall (now Repton Preparatory School).  Radical politician Sir Francis Burdett was connected with the church.  

St. Saviour's Church

Geoff taking pics inside St. Saviour's Church

St. Saviour's Church

St. Saviour's Church

The altar in St. Saviour's Church

Wheat field and blue skies

Is this wind damage or part of a crop circle?

The last survivor

 We called in at the fishing ponds near Shottle Cross roads on the way back which is also the site of my favourite tree / field. The sky was very dramatic so i made a black & white pic to show the drama at its best.

Mono treatment to my favourite tree

This was just over 5 miles with some very long reaching views looking north. None of us had been walking in this area before and it was very nice.
See you next week.
Cheers