Reflecting

We have had a whole series of colourful sunsets here over the past week. I thought I would try hanging out of the bedroom window to see if I could capture a reflection. I'm not entirely sure that I like the result, but it is slightly out of the ordinary.

Interesting to note that, until about eleven days ago, I couldn't see these houses because of a large ash tree in my next-door-but-one neighbour's garden. How much can be 'achieved' by two men and a chain saw!

Dressing up

Derbyshire has a couple of traditions which are almost unheard of outside the county and, although it is completely the wrong time of year, I couldn't leave Tissington without reference to one of them.

It begins with this...


and continues with barrow loads of this...

to which is added a whole host of natural ingredients to create these..

Tissington is known as the mother place of well dressing. Tradition has it that wells were first dressed in Derbyshire, as 17th century villagers gave thanks for deliverance from the plague, which had so devastated nearby Eyam. There is also reference to successive years of drought during which the wells of Tissington never dried up. Either way, it is almost certainly a practice which has been adapted from earlier pagan water blessing rituals.

Around three quarters of wells are dressed with a religious theme. Preparation begins far in advance with decisions about the topic, design, colours and materials to be used (which should always be 100% natural, and are often flowers or plants grown and collected locally). In the final stages, the flowers are pressed into a puddled clay base which has been marked out with the agreed design. It can take a team of people up to a week to complete the dressing for one well.

The end results are always spectacular, which is why, every ascension week, Tissington is swamped with visitors who want to come see the offering for the year.

We were lucky enough to see the dressings being prepared. If you're interested enough to read more about well dressing or want to browse a gallery of completed wells from all over Derbyshire, follow this link:

http://www.welldressing.com/

A little tip though. If you decide to come to Tissington and see for yourself, park in Mapleton or Alsop and walk up the trail. It's 3 miles each way, but probably still quicker than queuing to get the car out!

Tissington

Tissington is one of many villages around Derbyshire with names containing the Saxon word 'ton', meaning an enclosure or village and/or the Saxon 'ing' meaning the place of. In the original Saxon, it would have been Tizinctun, but, during my childhood, I remember it being most often referred to as Tissen; as part of the triplet Tissen, Brassen & Carsen (Brassington and Carsington).

The village figures in the Domesday book, where it is reported to have had a population of 100. It's not much bigger now!

Primarily, Tissington is an estate village, having been built around Tissington Hall - the seat of the FitzHerbert family for the past 500 years. The present hall is Jacobean and dates from the 17th Century. It replaced an Elizabethan Hall in a slightly different location.

Close up, the Hall looks very impressive, but I particularly like it in this setting, nestling in the hollow below the field and framed by the trees.

Not a bad place to live!

Locals

Tissington village, after which the trail is named, is a local honey pot which attracts a sizeable number of visitors each year. That being the case, you might expect the local livestock to be a little more blase about large groups of people wandering by.


It would appear not! These particular locals seemed as fascinated by the twenty-four children, as the twenty-four children were by them!

Tree Tunnels

The Cromford and High Peak Railway coped with the awkward Derbyshire countryside by running up a series of inclines, serviced by engine houses and winches to haul up the loaded wagons. In the first five miles of its route, it climbed a series of four inclines, rising over 1,000 feet.

In contrast, the London and North Western Railway Company who built the Tissington line selected to map or engineer a route level enough for a steam locomotive to pull carriages unaided. So, after emerging from the Ashbourne tunnel and passing over the Seven Arches viaduct, the route to Tissington is predominantly enclosed, running through a series of cuttings and over tree lined embankments.

In early summer, it can seem like walking through a tunnel of fresh green foliage with occasional glimpses of the landscape beyond.

(Best viewed large)

Benefitting from Beeching? : 'How the Trail Became'

The Peak District National Park (incidentally, the oldest in the world!) is divided into two distinct regions. The White Peak has a limestone base and is characterised by it's rivers, dales and rocky outcrops. Further north, the grit stone based Dark Peak is a land of wild moorlands and wide open spaces.

Traversing the White Peak, the Cromford and High Peak Railway was opened in 1831 as a link between the Cromford Canal at High Peak Junction and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. At the time it was a feat of engineering, being one of the first long distance routes (33 miles) and climbing to a height of 1,266 feet. In comparison, the highest working railway summit today is Ais Gill on the Settle-Carlisle line at 1,169 feet. C&HPR was built as an alternative to a canal and served to carry coal, stone and eventually cotton.

In 1899, it was joined by a second line, the Tissington Railway, which ran from Parsley Hay, 13 miles south to the market town of Ashbourne; from where there was a link to the main line at Rocester. At one time, milk from Derbyshire farms was transported down the Tissington line, onto the main rail network and from there to Finsbury Park in London.

Unfortunately, neither of these lines survived the Beeching axe, closing in stages through the 1960s. In 1971, however, the lines were given a new lease of life, being re-opened - in a joint venture between the Peak Park Planning Board and Derbyshire County Council - as trails for walkers, cyclists and horses. And so 'became' the Tissington and High Peak Trails.

Last May, I had the pleasure of walking a section of the Tissington Trail with a class of Y3 children. It rained (no surprise there then) and the back stragglers complained more and more with every step (awww! - we did a whole 3 miles!), but we had a great time, found loads of evidence of the trails original usage and, because it was a weekday, didn't even have to dodge many cyclists.

Almost the last section of our walk took us down the dip where once stood the Seven Arches. Sadly, the viaduct was demolished, but at least the new path took us right down to the level of the brook and the wooden bridge which crosses it.

Towering over Derby

From the top of the cathedral tower, the view east over Derby is quite impressive, but isn't it interesting how height can give you those little insights into things which are normally hidden from view? I've never spotted this sub station from ground level!

Derby's river is the Derwent, nearing the end of its 50 mile course from the moors above Bamford Dams to its confluence with the Trent. The new bridge looks very smart, though I have yet to meet anyone who has actually crossed it (not that I often ask) and am not quite sure what criteria the council used when deciding where to place it. I'm sure they had their reasons.

With its historic buildings, narrow streets and more traditional shops, the Cathedral Quarter is definitely the more character-filled part of town; though it is suffering somewhat from the advent of the super-sized Westfield Centre just a short walk away. (Yes Bradfordians, we have a Westfield Centre, not just a Westfield hole!)

At 212 feet, Derby Cathedral tower is the second highest Anglican tower in England. I'm guessing that the highest is York Minster, though I am quite prepared to be corrected.

My eldest son and I were lucky enough to abseil from here in September. It was an amazing experience which I would love to repeat. Derby Mountain Rescue Team were professional, reassuring and quite happy to accommodate someone daft enough to want to climb the 189 steps for a second time, just to take some photos! (As long as I was also prepared to go back down the long way this time - shucks!)