The green shoots of recovery are emerging from the devastation caused by the recent fire in the southern Goyt Valley. The cause is likely to have been a portable BBQ. They need to be banned ASAP.
Topic tags: Cat & Fiddle...
Goyt Recollections part I
Crichton Porteous was known as ‘the Thomas Hardy of Derbyshire’. This is the first of three parts reproducing a chapter from his popular 1954 book, Peakland, and titled ‘Goyt Recollections’.
Cat & Fiddle: a brief history
TV and radio historian Michala Hulme charts the intriguing fortunes of the famous Cat & Fiddle Inn, perched high on windswept moorland, close to the source of the River Goyt.
Pictures in colour
I recently came across a book called ‘Pictures in Colour of Buxton and the Peak District’. Published in the early 1900s, it includes three photos taken in and around the Goyt Valley.
Lost in a snowstorm
“He left Macclesfield on Sunday at about four o’clock in the afternoon, and when found at six o’clock on Monday evening – 26 hours later – he was snow-blind, inarticulate, and frozen…”
Cat & Fiddle update
It seems the Cat & Fiddle Inn, perched high on the moors beside the Buxton to Macclesfield road, has been saved. Which after a couple of years standing derelict and forlorn, is wonderful news.
Cat & Fiddle rescued (1918)
The Cat & Fiddle has stood empty for nearly two years. But it seems the pub has always had a chequered history. Some 100 years ago the Grimshawe sisters saved the day by accepting an offer from Mr Frood.
Goyt Valley Story #1
The first chapter of Clifford Rathbone’s ‘Goyt Valley Story’ describes a walk he made in the summer of 1955 from the Cat & Fiddle to Goyt’s Bridge, before the flooding of Errwood Reservoir.
Visiting the Cat & Fiddle (1888)
The date is the 4th of May, 1888: “A carriage from Buxton passes us just before we reach the Cat and Fiddle. Its inmates, although covered with shawls and rugs, are shivering with cold.”
The Cat & Fiddle Inn
The Cat & Fiddle Inn lay on the edge of Samuel Grimshawe’s Errwood Estate, close to the source of the River Goyt. I’ve just published a fascinating collection of old postcards showing the pub.
19: Axe Edge Moor
Starting from Derbyshire Bridge car park near the source of the River Goyt, this 7.1-mile walk crosses moorland to reach the remains of Danebower Quarry, returning past the Cat & Fiddle Inn.
20: Three Shires Head
The historic landmark of Three Shires Head lies close to the Goyt Valley, at the junction of Derbyshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire. This 5.1-mile walk is the most popular on the website.