The group on the Pilgrimage Trail.[/caption]
By Paul Simms
The Peak Pilgrimage is a 39 mile long-distance footpath from the Church of the Holy Cross in Ilam to St Lawrence’s Church in the plague village of Eyam taking in ten other churches on the way. East Cheshire Ramblers are undertaking a series of circular walks to trace this pilgrimage route and we did the third of these recently.
A dozen Ramblers set off from Parsley Hay on the High Peak Trail on a fine, dry day. The High Peak Trail follows what was the Cromford & High Peak Railway. Built between 1825 and 1830 to join two important canals, this was one of the first railways in the world and initially used horses to pull the carriages on the flat sections and fixed steam engines to haul them up slopes. The line was finally closed in 1967 but 17 miles of it are now owned by the Peak District National Park.
We walked as far as Sparklow then to the delightful village of Monyash where there is the Bulls Head pub and a popular café in what was the village smithy. The cross on the village green is from 1340 when the village was granted a charter for a weekly market and the holes in the base are where local lead miners tested their drills after being sharpened by the smithy.
We visited St Leonard’s Church, built in 1100. Each church on the Peak Pilgrimage has a stamp and a bible verse that pilgrims can put in their guide book. From Monyash we left the Peak Pilgrimage route to make our way back to Parsley Hay via a short section of the Limestone Way, another long-distance path; this one being 46 miles through some of the most beautiful White Peak countryside.
Soon we entered the parish of Middleton &Smerrill, each entrance to which is marked by a boundary stone erected as a millennium project. We came upon the first of these, a large stone cube alone in a field, engraved “Bright Under Green Limestone Edges. With Queen Ann Lace and Cranesbill in her Hedges”. A little later we left the parish via a second boundary stone inscribed “Time, you old gipsy man / Will you not stay / Put up you caravan / Just for one day?”. And so back to our start point at Parsley Hay where the group visited the cafe. Group walk report 21st March
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The group on the Pilgrimage Trail.[/caption]
By Paul Simms
The Peak Pilgrimage is a 39 mile long-distance footpath from the Church of the Holy Cross in Ilam to St Lawrence’s Church in the plague village of Eyam taking in ten other churches on the way. East Cheshire Ramblers are undertaking a series of circular walks to trace this pilgrimage route and we did the third of these recently.
A dozen Ramblers set off from Parsley Hay on the High Peak Trail on a fine, dry day. The High Peak Trail follows what was the Cromford & High Peak Railway. Built between 1825 and 1830 to join two important canals, this was one of the first railways in the world and initially used horses to pull the carriages on the flat sections and fixed steam engines to haul them up slopes. The line was finally closed in 1967 but 17 miles of it are now owned by the Peak District National Park.
We walked as far as Sparklow then to the delightful village of Monyash where there is the Bulls Head pub and a popular café in what was the village smithy. The cross on the village green is from 1340 when the village was granted a charter for a weekly market and the holes in the base are where local lead miners tested their drills after being sharpened by the smithy.
We visited St Leonard’s Church, built in 1100. Each church on the Peak Pilgrimage has a stamp and a bible verse that pilgrims can put in their guide book. From Monyash we left the Peak Pilgrimage route to make our way back to Parsley Hay via a short section of the Limestone Way, another long-distance path; this one being 46 miles through some of the most beautiful White Peak countryside.
Soon we entered the parish of Middleton &Smerrill, each entrance to which is marked by a boundary stone erected as a millennium project. We came upon the first of these, a large stone cube alone in a field, engraved “Bright Under Green Limestone Edges. With Queen Ann Lace and Cranesbill in her Hedges”. A little later we left the parish via a second boundary stone inscribed “Time, you old gipsy man / Will you not stay / Put up you caravan / Just for one day?”. And so back to our start point at Parsley Hay where the group visited the cafe.
The group on the Pilgrimage Trail.[/caption]
By Paul Simms
The Peak Pilgrimage is a 39 mile long-distance footpath from the Church of the Holy Cross in Ilam to St Lawrence’s Church in the plague village of Eyam taking in ten other churches on the way. East Cheshire Ramblers are undertaking a series of circular walks to trace this pilgrimage route and we did the third of these recently.
A dozen Ramblers set off from Parsley Hay on the High Peak Trail on a fine, dry day. The High Peak Trail follows what was the Cromford & High Peak Railway. Built between 1825 and 1830 to join two important canals, this was one of the first railways in the world and initially used horses to pull the carriages on the flat sections and fixed steam engines to haul them up slopes. The line was finally closed in 1967 but 17 miles of it are now owned by the Peak District National Park.
We walked as far as Sparklow then to the delightful village of Monyash where there is the Bulls Head pub and a popular café in what was the village smithy. The cross on the village green is from 1340 when the village was granted a charter for a weekly market and the holes in the base are where local lead miners tested their drills after being sharpened by the smithy.
We visited St Leonard’s Church, built in 1100. Each church on the Peak Pilgrimage has a stamp and a bible verse that pilgrims can put in their guide book. From Monyash we left the Peak Pilgrimage route to make our way back to Parsley Hay via a short section of the Limestone Way, another long-distance path; this one being 46 miles through some of the most beautiful White Peak countryside.
Soon we entered the parish of Middleton &Smerrill, each entrance to which is marked by a boundary stone erected as a millennium project. We came upon the first of these, a large stone cube alone in a field, engraved “Bright Under Green Limestone Edges. With Queen Ann Lace and Cranesbill in her Hedges”. A little later we left the parish via a second boundary stone inscribed “Time, you old gipsy man / Will you not stay / Put up you caravan / Just for one day?”. And so back to our start point at Parsley Hay where the group visited the cafe. 
