Above: The lane from Goyt’s Bridge snakes around from the left before crossing the bridge and heading up the Valentine to Fernilee. (Shawstile Farm is top right.) It was only recently that I discovered an aerial photo showing a small stone bridge that now lies...
Above: I took this photo in May 2018, some 18 months after the FC started clearing the rhododendrons around Errwood Hall . I was hoping they’d be allowed to regrow. But that’s not going to be the case. The recent news that the Forestry Commission will be...
Above: This view across the reservoir has only opened up since the felling of the fir trees. I’ve circled the junction of the twin tracks, with the ancient holloway running up the slope on the right. The recent felling of the fir trees on the western slopes...
Above: It will be interesting to see how quickly the landscape recovers. I’m just hoping the Forestry Commission don’t replant the fir trees. It’s great to see that the footpath along the western shore of Fernilee has finally reopened, some four...
Above: Old postcards of the valley regularly appear on ebay. There’s an amazing number of old postcards showing views of the Goyt Valley. In the days before smart phones and social media, they were a perfect way of keeping in touch with friends and family....
Above: New vistas above Fernilee! I’m just hoping they’ll let the native broadleaf trees take over – as nature intended. I walked the wide track above Fernilee last weekend for the first time since the tree-felling began back in August. And what a...
Above: Taken in 1934, this aerial photo shows the lane coming north from Goyt’s Bridge at far left, winding down to a small bridge spanning the Goyt (circled), before heading up the Valentine to Fernilee. Someone writing before the construction of the twin...
Above: Bill’s Dad shepherds a few sheep through the construction site at Fernilee in 1932. Above: Bill pictured with a lamb at Oldfield Farm in 1953. Above: Edited by Christine Gregory and Sheila Hine, ‘The Land That Made Us’ was published earlier...
Above: Joe and Prudence Hibbert feature in the video. They lived at Bunsal Farm and were the last family to leave the valley. I’ve just posted another Goyt Valley video on YouTube – on the history of Fernilee Reservoir. It’s less than 10-minutes...
Above: I’m still not 100% sure, but I think the orange circle on the old map shows the view. The solid parallel lines show Shooters’ Clough stream. My thanks to Angela for allowing me to scan a rare postcard from her collection that I’d never seen...
