Above: Boothman’s Cottages would have been a bleak place to live in winter. But well-placed to pick up custom from the many travellers who passed this way. Above: An old photo showing the remains of the engine house (click to enlarge). There’s nothing now...
Above: Ladmanlow goods yard pictured in 1932, looking north from the A53 Leek Road. This is likely to have been the ‘Park Gates’ the writer describes. Passengers were not allowed following a fatal accident in 1877. The yard finally closed in 1954....
Above: The twin stone gateposts and a screengrab from the ViewRanger app showing where they stand. It’s quite probably a sad reflection on me, but I find old stone gateposts intriguing. Especially when they stand alone in the landscape, with no connecting fences...
Above: Whatever remains of Ladmanlow Station now lies behind these gates. I’ll maybe knock on their door once the virus has passed to ask if they’ll let me take a closer look. I’ve long been fascinated by the history of the 33-mile Cromford...
Above: The quarry is quite a magical place, with trees and large boulders covered in thick litchen. Above: The quarry in 1933 (click to enlarge). There are more photos on the Whaley Bridge local history website. A few people on the Goyt Valley Facebook Group have...
Above: A small stile from the Old Macclesfield Road, just on the outskirts of Burbage, leads down to the site of what was once a busy colliery. The inset map dates back to the late 1890s and shows the colliery was already disused at this time. I find it fascinating to...
Above: It’s difficult to imagine today, but this area was once a busy drift-mining colliery. Coal was unloaded from small canal boats at the head of a drift tunnel in the hillside, just a short distance from this bridge, and loaded onto railway wagons, as...
Above: The best place to see evidence of coal mining around Goyt’s Moss is from a lay-by beside the A54, heading west from Buxton, just before the junction to Congleton. There’s a sign beside a stile warning walkers to take care, but the...
Above: I’ve often wondered about these dark deposits on the exposed hillside beside the road from the Cat & Fiddle to Derbyshire Bridge. It certainly looks like coal, but if it is, why hasn’t anyone carted it away to warm their homes in this exposed...
Above: The photo was taken from the slopes surrounding Goytsclough Quarry, looking south along the road to Derbyshire Bridge.The River Goyt runs along the valley to the left. A mill lade flowing from the river along the hillside supplied water to the giant waterwheel....
