Out & About: Monyash and Mysterious Stone Circle

The usual 07:00 start from our Rob's and it was Ikes turn to drive. After all the mud last week we thought we would try and keep out of it and headed up to Monyash. When there is no traffic at this time of day it only takes 30 minutes to get there. We parked up close to the village pond, Fere Mere to give its proper name. Monyash is in an area popular with walkers exploring the network of footpaths around the hills and dales. Centered on a traditional village green, the village, with just over 300 inhabitants living in around 145 houses, lies about 900 feet above sea level at the head of Lathkill Dale. Tourism and farming (milk, beef and lamb) are the predominant activities of the village. The area has a reputation for beautiful scenery, pleasant walks and a peaceful environment. This tranquillity contrasts with the village’s vibrant past as an important meeting place around 2000 BC, later as a watering point for drovers’ animals at the intersection of several trade routes, and, for over 700 years, as a busy industrial centre supporting the local lead mining industry
We left the car and walked past the pond along Rakes Road then onto Derby road which is little more than a track but in the past it was a very busy drovers road. We encountered a couple of flooded area's to get through but other than that it was largely a very nice walk. We went past a garden with a very nice set of standing stones formed into a circle, We thought this is just a folly and I'd love something like that in my garden. A bit further on we came to an old friend, one of the Derbyshire Guide Stoops on Derby Road. A local farmer has incorporated it into a gatepost but its markings can still be clearly seen.On one face the word looks like Chedel other faces had Buxton, Bakewell and Derby marked on them.We were about to leave when Ike spotted something resting in the space between the stoop and a bush, when he pulled it out it was a Geocache so we wrote a note in the small log book contained in the tin. We carried on walking up the track and met a chap called Bill Gee, now he gave us some great info about the area relating to the old drover routes and trackways. We came across his name later in the Church. From there we checked the map and we weren't prepared to get all muddied up crossing fields so instead of a circular route we headed back the way we had come. We stopped at the pond for our breakfast then had a little wander around the village past the village green to St Leonard's Church. When we got inside the church there was a group of people singing and praying, very nice it was too. We saw an object in the church that Bill Gee had worked on, so he's a craftsman as well as being knowledgeable. We had a wander around the churchyard and its covered in snowdrops then back towards the car. Rob and myself had a quick walk up to a cottage where the garden was awash with snowdrops. Monyash is a beautiful village and will be returning in the spring.