Above: A couple of examples from the collection – a wonderful photo showing four houses near Goyt’s Moss. And a small booklet describing life at the reservoir waterworks from the 1950s to the late ’90s.
There’s nothing like a deadline for concentrating the mind! Back in the summer – when we were working on the Errwood Hall app – I’d been given a wonderful collection of old photos and documents which had once been on display in the Derbyshire Bridge Rangers’ hut.
I was planning to gradually post them here on the website, but they ended up getting buried under more pressing work. So when the call came that the papers needed to be returned, I was forced to pull out the proverbial finger and make a start!
Most of the photos are fairly poor-quality photocopies, but still of interest. One in particular caught my eye – a very rare photo showing the the four farmhouses which once stood beside the old turnpike road from Buxton to Macclesfield.
I’d seen the image before, but this photo was a lot shaper (click to enlarge). Today the area is known as Derbyshire Bridge, but in previous times it was called Goyt’s Moss and was the centre of a large coal-mining industry.
The famous Cat & Fiddle Inn is about half a mile further to the west (out of frame to the left in the photo). The first house on the left is Marchington Farm, then Moss House, Moss Hall and Goyt’s Moss Farmhouse (click any link to view details on each house).
The road then snakes towards Buxton over the far horizon. It’s just possible to make out a narrower lane – above Marchington House – leading left (north) towards Goytsclough and the now-drowned hamlet of Goyt’s Bridge.
Other Goyt Valley documents…
There were three other documents in the collection that I thought were worth scanning and posting on this website. One was an extensive report into coal mining at Goyt’s Moss by John Barnatt, who is probably the most widely acknowledged expert on the history of the Goyt Valley. (Click to view.)
Another was a small A5 booklet called ‘Tales from the Waterworks’ written by Geoff Howe and dated December 1998. (Click to view.)
And the last was the original draft for a booklet published by the Peak District National Park called ‘Goyt Valley’ and written by Roland Smith. I posted the booklet on the website some time ago (Click to view). But the draft is considerably larger and includes a lot more information. (Click to view.)
I’ve still got a couple of larger folders containing some interesting information. So I’m hoping I’ll be given a bit more time to scan these.
Further resources…
Click here for a list of resources exploring the rich history of the Goyt Valley.