EYAM – EYAM MOOR – STOKE FORD – BRETTON – EYAM

This walk really has the WOW factor with far reaching and breathtaking views of White Peak and Dark Peak countryside.

From the pay and display on Hawkhill Road opposite Eyam Museum with its weather vane appropriately featuring a rat, set off down into the village to walk past Eyam Hall and the Church. All around Eyam are plaques referring to properties which have survived the centuries and tell of the residents that perished there during the plague in the 17^th century.

It should also be noted that Eyam has been a source of intellects, scholars, writers and poets. Could it be the pure spring water which in 1599 provided one of the oldest village water supplies in the county, or simply that the natives of Eyam are naturally intelligent and extremely literate? Whatever the reason, this village has produced John Nightingale, an author as early as 1350, Anna Seward, a gifted poetess in the 18^th century, Rev. Peter Cunningham who wrote verse, Peter Furness known as the Peak Poet, and William Woods the historian as well as Clarence Daniel, a life long resident of Eyam who wrote a number of books and left a collection of his work to Eyam Museum.

After wandering along to the school, continue down past the Spar shop and bakery and then up the hill towards New Road before turning left up Riley Back Lane and heading for the woods beside Hollow Brook.

Follow the path up through the trees and you should emerge onto Edge Road just before Mompesson’s Well, then from here continue straight ahead to meet up with Sir William Hill. If you look across towards the mast on the summit, you will see the cluster of buildings and chimney of Ladywash Mine.

The road passing over Sir William Hill was at one time part of the Buxton to Grindleford turnpike, reaching a height of over 1400 feet before descending 500 feet to Grindleford in a little over ½-mile. The name Sir William Hill is said to date back to at least 1692, and there are several theories as to the naming of it. Sir William Saville was at that date Lord of the Manor of Eyam, but Sir William Cavendish owned Stoke Hall. The Sir William Hotel was known as The Commercial Hotel until earlier in the last century, but Sir William Bagshawe portrayed on the signboard was not born until 1771.

At the junction go over a stile and follow the footpath for Stoke Ford. The aerial views from Eyam Moor are superb, reaching way across the moors with a glimpse of Kinder through the Vale of Edale, and the dark austere Edges stretching out beneath Higger Tor and Carl Wark whilst Highlow Hall sits majestically on its sugarloaf knoll in the foreground.

Across Bretton Clough you should be able to see farms and homesteads which make up the little hamlet of Abney. Abney Grange was at one time owned by the Abbots of Welbeck Abbey before becoming the private residence of the Bagshaws and Bradshaws.

The grassy path down to Stoke Ford is superb and leads you steeply down to a footbridge. Long ago this ancient path was the main packhorse route from Eyam to Bradwell, passing through Abney and Robin Hoods Cross.

Do not cross the footbridge but retrace your steps back up the hill for about 50 yards before taking a path on your right which follows the brook upstream and to the heart of Bretton Clough where
in 1745 the farmers of Eyam drove their cattle to hide them from Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Highlanders who had invaded Derbyshire on their way south.

At the derelict remains of a farmhouse you turn away from the clough and follow the old drive from the farmhouse which is now a grassy track that winds its way up the hillside, eventually emerging on a stony lane at Nether Bretton. There are several deserted and derelict homesteads in the Clough, remnants of a once thriving rural community.

Gotheredge Farm dated from the 17^th century and stood high up on the side of the valley. In 1785 it was the scene of a brutal murder involving a local man known as Blinker Bland. He came to the farm with accomplices one night with the intention of robbing the farmer of his savings. Unknown to them the money was safely banked however. When the farmer recognised Blinker as one of the intended robbers ransacking his home, he was hit over the head with a milking stool and fatally wounded. His wife ran for help in her nightdress to neighbours at Fairest Clough Farm. The villains were later caught and it is said brought to justice.

In 1893 a rabbit warren was created at Clough Farm by the lord of the manor of Abney. It was let to London furriers and tie-makers Jacob Brothers. Rabbits were bred here for the next forty years or so, but with no great financial success. The rabbits are said to have burrowed so much that they badly damaged the land making the slopes of shale very unstable.

The little hamlets of Bretton and Nether Bretton were once a thriving community with 22 children at one time attending the school at Great Hucklow. They would have had to walk up from farms in the Clough and along the hilltop road to the school. Many of the inhabitants were employed in local mines. In about 1830 Bretton had its own foot race – it is reputed that a ram was covered with soft soap to make it slippery and the runners had to catch it as it raced along the road towards Grindleford.

On meeting the rough road at the top of the hill turn right and follow it around the corner where it passes a house and then becomes a proper road. It is now a quarter of a mile of so up this road to the Barrel Inn. The views as you walk around the corner of the pub are amazing – on a clear day you will be able to see a patchwork of fields criss-crossed by mile upon mile of limestone walls, indicative of White Peak countryside.

There can be no better location for a pub and it very welcoming when cold to shelter for a few minutes by the side of a log fire adorned with gleaming brasses, whilst gazing out at that glorious view.

On leaving The Barrel Inn turn left and follow the ridge top road which is generally quiet. You will head towards the summit of Sir William Hill again but from the opposite direction. However, follow the road around to the right at the start of the rough section of track and continue until you come to a little cluster of properties at Highcliffe where after the properties on either side of the road you turn down another old track on the right to return to Eyam.