Above: Known as ‘the human fly’, Joe was acknowledged as one of Britain’s finest mountaineers. He carved orienteering clues into rocks at 20 locations around the valley. The one above right is on the back of the shrine beside the lane leading down to...
Above: The nearby Cat & Fiddle pictured under a blanket of snow shows just how severe the weather could get on these moors. Many thanks to David from the Furness Vale History Society for sending these details about a tragedy that happened in Goytsclough back in...
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: Bunty and Lucy (the dog) with one of the last groups of children she taught there, pictured in 1972. Chris Wilman was brought up close to the Goyt Valley and remembers one of her favourite teachers… ‘Bunty’ Sidebottom was the teacher at the hamlet...
Above: Long Hill Farm lies on the left, just before the sign to the Goyt Valley on the road from Buxton. Above: Could this have been the very spot that Farmer Thomas Dunn lost his life (click to enlarge)? It’s certainly been strongly reinforced over the years....
Above: This photo taken at the Cat & Fiddle probably dates to the 1910s – around the same time Fredrick found himself in trouble with the law – and shows various forms of transport, including an early car as well as some horse and traps. Another gem...
Above: This photo shows a family posing outside Nook Farm and was probably taken in the early 1900s. Census records show the Dunns had left the farm sometime between 1891 and 1901, so it’s unlikely they’re the family posing here. My thanks to Mike for...
Above: The newspaper report refers to the Hibbert’s farm as ‘Gonsall’. But it must have been Bunsal Farm (far right). The Hibberts are the only family listed on census records going back to 1871 (click to view). The inset image of a well-dressed...
Above: Captain John Butler and his wife, Hannah, are buried beneath a stone cross – the central one of the three shown here – in the Grimshawe family’s hill-top cemetery, above the ruins of Errwood Hall. Above: The inscription is now becoming hidden...
Above: Castedge Farm Cottage in its prime. Above inset: Kathleen Nall (second from right) with her parents and (presumably) elder brother and sister. On the far right is her friend, Brenda Hewitt, who lived at the nearby Shooters’ Clough Cottage. Above: This...
