| Errwood Hall | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Errwood Hall Location within Derbyshire | |
| OS grid reference | SK008747 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Derbyshire |
| Fire | Derbyshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
The ruin of Errwood Hall is a popular tourist destination in the scenic Upper Goyt Valley within the Peak District of England.
Errwood Hall was built in the 1830s by Samuel Grimshawe, a wealthy Manchester businessman, and was occupied by the Grimshawe family for the next hundred years. [1] The hall was the centre of a thriving estate of over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2), consisting of several farms, a school, the Cat and Fiddle Inn, [2] a private coal mine [3] and the hamlet of Goyt's Bridge. The family planted many specimen trees including an abundance of azaleas and rhododendrons.
Samuel’s grandchildren were the last members of the family to live in the hall, which was later demolished in connection with the construction of the Fernilee Reservoir in 1934. [4] [5] Stones from the demolished hall were used to construct the water treatment works below the reservoir. [6]
Of the hall, only the foundations to ground floor level, and a few sections of wall, now survive. These have been consolidated and are in the care of the Peak Park Authority. On a hilltop a few hundred metres to the west of the hall ruins is the family graveyard, restored by North West Water in the 1980s.
To the north of the hall is a small shrine or chapel, erected by the Grimshawe family to the memory of Miss Dolores de Ybarguen, [7] a Spanish aristocrat who was the teacher at the estate school and governess to the Grimshaw family and who died on a visit to Lourdes. The shrine is still regularly used for private acts of devotion, intercession and remembrance.
The rhododendrons planted by the Grimshawes have flourished and now have to be strictly managed.
Goyt's Bridge and much of the farmland of the estate is now submerged under the waters of the Errwood Reservoir, though the old packhorse bridge after which the hamlet was named was relocated further up the valley. [8]
The hall and the surrounding area is one of the most visited parts of the Peak National Park, [9] and is the starting point for many popular walks in the upper Goyt Valley. In recent summers it has also been the venue for a number of unofficial music festivals and rave parties. [10]
The hall is the scene of the climax of the fantasy novel The Moon of Gomrath by Alan Garner. [11]
The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorland is found and the geology is dominated by gritstone, and the White Peak, a limestone area with valleys and gorges. The Dark Peak forms an arc on the north, east and west sides; the White Peak covers central and southern tracts. The historic Peak District extends beyond the National Park, which excludes major towns, quarries and industrial areas. It became the first of the national parks of England and Wales in 1951. Nearby Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and Sheffield send millions of visitors – some 20 million live within an hour's ride. Inhabited from the Mesolithic era, it shows evidence of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. Settled by the Romans and Anglo-Saxons, it remained largely agricultural; mining arose in the Middle Ages. Richard Arkwright built cotton mills in the Industrial Revolution. As mining declined, quarrying grew. Tourism came with the railways, spurred by the landscape, spa towns and Castleton's show caves.
Disley is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. It is located on the edge of the Peak District in the Goyt valley, south of Stockport and close to the county boundary with Derbyshire at New Mills. The population at the 2011 Census was 4,294. To the north, the River Goyt and the Peak Forest Canal, which opened in 1800, pass along the edge of the village. Today, it is a dormitory village retaining a semi-rural character.
The River Etherow is a river in northern England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. Although now passing through South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester, it historically formed the ancient county boundary between Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale. The river has a watershed of approximately 30 square miles (78 km2), and the area an annual rainfall of 52.5 inches (1,330 mm).
The River Goyt is a tributary of the River Mersey in North West England.
The Upper Goyt Valley is the southern section of the valley of the River Goyt in North West England.
New Mills is a town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England, 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Stockport and 13 miles (21 km) from Manchester at the confluence of the River Goyt and Sett. It is close to the border with Cheshire and above the Torrs, a 70 feet (21 m) deep gorge cut through carboniferous sandstone, on the north-western edge of the Peak District national park.
Whaley Bridge is a town and civil parish in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England, on the River Goyt, 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Manchester, 7 miles (11 km) north of Buxton, 9 miles (14 km) east of Macclesfield and 28 miles (45 km) west of Sheffield. It had a population of 6,455 at the 2011 census, including Furness Vale, Horwich End, Bridgemont, Fernilee, Stoneheads and Taxal.
Marple is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is on the River Goyt, 9 miles (14 km) south-east of Manchester, 9 miles (14 km) north of Macclesfield and 4 miles (6 km) south-east of Stockport. In 2011, it had a population of 23,686.
Mellor is a village in Greater Manchester, England, lying between Marple Bridge and New Mills, Derbyshire.
Errwood Reservoir is a drinking-water reservoir in the Peak District National Park, within the county of Derbyshire and very close to the boundary with Cheshire. The reservoir was the second of two reservoirs built in the Goyt Valley, the other one being Fernilee Reservoir. It was constructed by the Stockport Water Corporation at a cost of £1.5 million, with work being completed in 1967; it is currently owned and operated by United Utilities. The reservoir provides drinking water for the town of Stockport and its surrounding areas, and it holds 4,215 million litres (1.113×109 US gal) of water.
Shining Tor is the highest hill in Cheshire, England. The summit has a maximum elevation of 559 m (1,834 ft) above sea level. It is in the Peak District, between the towns of Macclesfield in Cheshire and Buxton in Derbyshire, and is on the administrative boundary between Derbyshire and Cheshire East. The hill is at the south end of a north-south moorland ridge, which also includes Cats Tor, 519 metres (1,703 ft) high. There is also another hill named Shining Tor, above Dovedale in Derbyshire, at grid reference SK145545.
Marple Bridge is a district of Marple in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England; it is sited on the River Goyt, which runs through the centre of the village.
Marple railway station is on the Hope Valley Line and serves Marple, in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is 8.9 miles (14.3 km) south-east of Manchester Piccadilly. The station, opened in 1865 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, was demolished and rebuilt in 1970. It is managed and served by Northern Trains, who provide two trains per hour in each direction.
Shallcross is a small village in northwestern Derbyshire, England. It is located 15 miles (24 km) south of Manchester, at the edge of the Peak District, on the eastern side of the River Goyt. Located between Whaley Bridge and Fernilee, it is now administered as part of the larger community of Whaley Bridge. The area attracts many outdoors enthusiasts, especially hikers, because of the beauty and variety of the scenery. The country rises steeply as it ascends the Goyt Valley from the canal terminal at Whaley Bridge, past the Fernilee Reservoir, and onto the highlands of Axe Edge Moor.
Mellor Mill, also known as Bottom's Mill, was a six-story cotton mill in Marple, Greater Manchester built by Samuel Oldknow in 1793. This was a six-storey, 42-foot (13 m) wide and 210-foot (64 m) long mill with additional three-storey wings making it 400 feet (120 m) in all. The mill was built for Samuel Oldknow and used to spin coarse counts. It was originally driven by the Wellington water wheel. The River Goyt, and with it the then county boundary between Derbyshire and Cheshire was diverted and a weir built, the leat fed a millpond that in later times was named the Roman Lakes. This in turn fed a second mill pond along with water from reservoir in Linnet Clough. Supplementary power was provided by a second exterior wheel known as the Waterloo wheel. The Mill reached its peak production in 1804, when 10,080 spindles were operating and around 550 people were employed. It was destroyed by fire in 1892.
Brabyns Park is a public park in Marple Bridge, Stockport, Greater Manchester, England.
The Peak District Boundary Walk is a circular 190-mile (310 km) walking trail, starting and finishing at Buxton and broadly following the boundary of the Peak District, Britain's first national park. The route was developed by the Friends of the Peak District and was launched on 17 June 2017.
Fernilee Reservoir is a drinking-water reservoir fed by the River Goyt in the Peak District National Park, within the county of Derbyshire and very close to the boundary with Cheshire. The village of Fernliee sits at the north end of the reservoir, with Goyt's Moss to the south and between Hoo Moor to the west and Combs Moss to the east.
Burbage Edge is a gritstone escarpment overlooking the Burbage district of Buxton in Derbyshire, in the Peak District. The hill's summit is 500 metres (1,600 ft) above sea level.
Cats Tor is a Peak District hill on the border between Cheshire and Derbyshire, between the towns of Macclesfield and Buxton. The summit is 518 metres (1,699 ft) above sea level. Tor is an Old English word for a high, rocky hill.
