There's a lot to explore in Staffordshire, in fact you're spoilt for choice. I have chosen this easy to moderate walk, Denstone to Dimmingsdale via the village of Alton. 6 mile circular walk
The walk starts & finishes in the village of Dentstone from the old Station site of the former North Staffordshire Railway (Churnet Valley Line) where the platforms still remain & is used as a picnic area. The railway had served the village from the late 19th century and early 20th century and closed to passengers in 1965. Part of this railway line is now preserved as the Churnet Valley Railway
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Denstone
The
development of Denstone owes much to
Sir Thomas Percival Heywood. He came to live at Doveleys, near Rochester in
1846 at the time Denstone was known locally as “Denstone in the dirt” Lady
Margaret Heywood described it as “the most neglected of hamlets” and
established a Dame school. Sir Thomas set about developing the village and
creating a parish. This involved lengthy negotiations with the Church
Commissioners. The church is one of the finest examples of the work of George
Street-an architect of Gothic Revival School’. It was consecrated in 1862. In
1870 the village school was built. The vicarage, a Curate’s house (now Three
Gables) and the Provost’s house (now Heywood Hanu ll) were all built around this
period. The fountain was erected in 1900 in memory of Sir Thomas as part of the
village water supply piped from the nearby spring. There were three pubs in the
village The Tavern (The Railway Tavern); The Crown(was the house near the
fountain); The Royal Oak opposite Oak farm(demolished 1969) also in the village
was a post office(originally at the back of Brook House); baker, butcher, two
grocers, a joiner, a smithy and a wheelwright.
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Start the walk by heading Northward along the old trackbed leaving Denstone behind you for about a ¼ of a
mile passing under the road bridge(B5032) Keep walking along the old trackbed, looking out for little stream with two wooden bridges. Cross both of them
and climb up the grassy bank.
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Just
before the oak trees, there’s another metal gate, through the gate and keep on
going. There’s a 3rd metal gate go through and keep on the track
between the hedges past the Holbrook farm go through the 4th gate
grassy/flag stone track (Saltersford Lane) This path gets quite muddy also
beware of horse riders.
Follow
lane for roughly ¾ mile and just before you reach the tarmac road, there’s a
stile on your right and go up the bank and keep close to the hedge (right) go
slightly to the left and through the stile in the hedge head towards the stile
in the barbwire fence cross over into the field and head towards the wooden
shed, over the stile on to the road, Go right and head down Town End towards
Alton village.
Alton Castle was founded
by Bertram de Verdon and built on a rocky precipice overlooking the River Churnet in the
12th century however the site had been fortified since Saxon times. The castle is also known as or
referred to in historical documents as Alton, Alverton or Aulton. The
12th-century castle was substantially reconstructed during the
15th century and subsequently was damaged during the civil war
Since 1442, the castle was in the possession of the Earls of Shrewsbury, who from
the beginning of the 19th-century made their home at nearby Alton Towers. By the mid-19th-Century
the castle was mostly in ruins John
Talbot 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, commissioned Catholic
architect Augustus Pugin, who was
already working for the Earl at Alton Towers, to construct a new gothic castle/country
house on the site.
Most of the 12th-century ruins were demolished to make way for the new
building which was designed to look like a French or German medieval castle.
The earl also commissioned Pugin to develop the surrounding area on castle
hill. A "replica of a medieval hospital, a guildhall and presbytery"
were constructed. Alton Castle is now a Catholic
youth retreat Centre St Peter’s Church.
Alton is a village in the county of Staffordshire, England. The village is noted for the theme
park Alton Towers, built around the site of Alton Mansion
(also named Alton Abbey or Alton Towers), which was owned by the Earls of Shrewsbury and
designed by Augustus Pugin. In the 1914 map by Whiston, there were
copper works in the village.
The
village is located on the eastern side of the Churnet valley. It is mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and contains numerous buildings of architectural
interest; the Round-House, Alton Castle, the Malt House, St John's Church and
Alton Towers
Alton
was served by the Alton railway station which was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway on 13 July 1849 and closed in the
1960s.
The chained oak in Alton has been made famous by the ride Hex
at Alton Towers and the legend involving the Earl of Shrewsbury. The village was home to seven public
houses, including 'The Talbot', 'The Bulls Head', ' The Royal Oak', 'The Bridge
House', 'The White Hart', 'The Blacksmiths Arms' and 'The Lord Shrewsbury'
(formerly The Wild Duck, renamed The Lord Shrewsbury; 'Lord' is an acceptable form of oral address for an Earl). The Talbot and The Lord
Shrewsbury closed in 2008. For those who
believe in ghosts, Alton is also considered to be among the most haunted
villages in Staffordshire. In particular, the ghost of a figure wearing a top
hat and riding a horse has allegedly been sighted numerous times wandering
through the fields around the village. During the lifetime of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, the village was known as Alverton.
Retrace your steps
back to Town End and turn right down High St. at the
junction go left on to Smithy Bank, follow it up hill until you get to a 3 road
junction. At the junction of Smithy Bank and Knight Lane is the old town lock
up (also known as the round house), you need to go right down the hill(Knight Lane)to the T Junction. Ahead of you is the Royal Oak, and to the right of it is the footpath you need.
Follow
track past the sheds and walk between the stone walls until you see a finger
post (Toothill) go right and shortly after the turn, look to your right and you
will see a National Trust sign Toothill. Here you will get some lovely views
across the valley and is a idea spot for a lunch break (Please show respect by
taking any litter and dispose of it correctly- don’t spoil a beautiful spot)
After a
well earned rest, retrace steps back to National trust sign and go right past
the chicken shed over the stile and into the woodland.
The path
starts to descend, take it slow/steady and isn’t quite as defined until further
down. As you descend further down the bank the path gets more defined with
wooden supported steps and you will see the River Churnet and narrow lane
(known as the Red Rd)on your right. As you reach the bottom of path you join the Red
road on the bend; Head straight on (so take care before crossing) The footpath
is up a track by the side of the house known as Holm cottage), follow it until
you reach Wood Farm. Keep on the track past the farm and the house and going
straight. You should see the lane and the river below to your right (Red Road) and
a path take the path to your right and descend down to Dimmingsdale and
Ramblers Retreat car park
The
Ramblers Retreat will be a welcome break and serves refreshments
and lovely food, ideal place to rest and have a cup of tea. Exploring Dimmingsdale is a treat in itself lots
of paths. There’s a ½ hour circular walk around the mill on waymarked paths
which you could do before setting off on the return leg of the walk back to
Denstone. Guides leaflets available from the café.
Formerly Dimmingsdale Lodge it was a Gatehouse within the Earl of
Shrewsbury’s estate strategically placed alongside Earls Drive - the main
thoroughfare through the estate. In the 1900’s the Earl’s estate was divided
into lots and sold. Dimmingsdale Lodge was purchased and used solely for
residential purposes until the 1960’s, after which it was left vacant and fell
into disrepair. In 1978, the Lodge had a dereliction order placed on it,
however Gary and Margaret Keeling decided to buy it and restore it back to its
natural beauty. After much hard work, Gary and Margaret moved into the Lodge in
1980 and made it their home. However, whilst gardening, walkers frequently
commented that it would be lovely to have a cup of tea after a walk. So in
1981, Margaret opened up her lounge to serve tea and scones and the Ramblers
Retreat was born!
The Ramblers Retreat is a family run
business. Gary and Margaret Keeling opened the business in 1981 and Helen;
their daughter joined them in 2002.
Dimmingsdale
is an enchanting and extremely
beautiful place anytime of the year. The woodland is a mixture of broad leaf
trees & spectacular Scots pines, providing a haven for wildlife – foxes,
badgers, woodpeckers to name but a few. In addition, the valley has an
abundance of beautiful & interesting flora and has been designated a site
of scientific special interest.
In the 1800’s, the Earl of Shrewsbury transformed Dimmingsdale from a
scene of industrial iron and lead smelting squalor to a private country
paradise. We know that Dimmingsdale is one of the most beautiful places in the
Staffordshire Moorlands; however, its beauty has also been recognised
nationwide. It was featured in the Sunday Times as one of the best Winter Walks
in the UK and Midlands Television recognised it as one of the most beautiful places
to visit in autumn due to the spectacular autumnal colours.
The Legend of the Chained Oak – within the valley is an old Oak
tree smothered with chains. Legend has it that in the 1830’s a beggar woman put
a curse on the Earl of Shrewsbury - for every branch that fell off this Oak
tree a member of his family would die. A branch did fall off the tree & a
member of his family did die, so immediately the Earl had chains wrapped around
it to stop any more branches falling off.
Origins of
the railway
Various
proposals were put forward for a line through the Churnet Valley in
the 1830s and in 1841 plans were published by the Manchester & Derby
Railway (Churnet Valley) Company for a line from Macclesfield to Derby via Leek, Cheadle, Rocester and Uttoxeter. At
Macclesfield the line would connect with the Grand Junction Railway and at Derby with the North Midland Railway and would result a direct route
between Manchester and London. In 1844 the company by now
renamed simply the Churnet Valley Railway Company laid out its
prospectus for construction of the line in 1844 and following approval of the
plan by the Board of Trade preparation was made for the necessary
approval of Parliament to be sought.
As the draft bill was being considered by the House of Commons the directors of the
company agreed an amalgamation with the Trent Valley Railway and
the Staffordshire Potteries Railway to form the Churnet,
Potteries and Trent Junction Railway soon to be called the North
Staffordshire Railway (NSR). The Churnet Valley bill was withdrawn and in
1846 a new bill was submitted to Parliament entitled the North Staffordshire
Railway (Churnet Valley Line) Bill. The merger of the three companies had not
been without opposition and many shareholders of the Churnet Valley Company
were worried that the Churnet Valley line would become a small adjunct to the
other NSR lines between Derby–Crewe and Macclesfield–Colwich. After negotiation
it became a stipulation of the bill that the dividend of
the NSR could not exceed 5% until the Churnet Valley line was fully open. With
this concession granted the bill proceeded through Parliament and
received Royal Assent on
26 June 1846. Allocated capital for the lines was £1,200,000.
Construction
The tender for construction of the line was let in
1847 to J & S Tredwell for a price of £330,218. Construction began in
September 1847 and in November 1847 a champagne party was held 40 feet
(12.2 m) underground to celebrate the laying of the first brick in Nab Hill tunnel near Leek.[5] Work on the section south of Leek involved
diverting the River Churnet at Consall[ and also one of the first instance of a canal being converted into
a railway with closure of the Uttoxeter Canal and it being used as the track bed
between Froghall and Uttoxeter. The
conversion had been made possible by the acquisition of the Trent and
Mersey Canal and
its subsidiaries, the Caldon Canal and the Uttoxeter Canal, by the NSR as part
of the 1846 act. Work on the line was concluded in 1849 and the line of
27 miles 54 chains (44.54 km) opened to both passenger and
freight traffic on 13 July 1849.
Operation
Although
originally planned as a main route between Manchester and Derby the
line became, (as many shareholders had worried), something of a backwater.
Through trains required co-operation with the LNWR, something that the NSR did
not have for many years and when good relations with the LNWR were settled
some through services were run but not as many as once anticipated.
Train services settled to a small number of local trains between
Macclesfield and Uttoxeter supplemented by a smaller number of slightly shorter
workings e.g. Macclesfield—Leek. A lot of excursions were
run over the line as the NSR made efforts to promote Rudyard Lake as a
tourist destination. The lake, actually a reservoir, supplied water to the
Trent & Mersey Canal and had therefore become the property of the NSR in
1846. However the NSR only owned the lake, not the land around it and
protracted legal proceedings meant that the NSR were not fully able to promote
Rudyard until the early part of the 20th century. Another important
tourist destination for the NSR was also served by the line; Alton Towers, owned by
the Earl of Shrewsbury, was open
to the public on several days during the summer and the NSR provided special
trains on these occasions.
The NSR were not the only group seeking to promote the Churnet Valley as
a tourist destination and through the efforts of a number of local hoteliers
the valley became known as "Little Switzerland". Despite the picturesque
description which arose from the
valley's steep sides, the area was also an important site in the mineral
industry with iron and copper as well as limestone and sandstone being
quarried. Previously carried by canal, the output from the quarries and
the associated industries was moved by rail especially when the NSR opened a
line from Stoke to Leek in 1867. Principal among these were the copper wire
works at Froghall and Oakamoor and
the limestone quarries at Caldon Low. The latter was also owned by the NSR and
moved stone from the quarry to Froghall station via
a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway.
At one point over 1000 tons a week was being shipped from Froghall to Brunner Mond.
London Midland Scottish years
Along with
the rest of the NSR the line passed into the ownership of the London, Midland and Scottish railway (LMS)
which made little change to the operation of the line. Passenger services
remained much as they had done under the NSR, but Alton Towers became an
increasingly popular tourist destination and frequent excursions terminated
there. Further north, at Rudyard, there were quite a few changes as the LMS
sold off the golf club and the Rudyard Hotel. One result was a confusing change
of station names; Rudyard Lake was renamed Cliffe Park, and Rudyard was renamed
Rudyard Lake. One long distance train ran over the line, the
Saturdays-only Eastern Counties Express between Manchester and Cromer ran in both directions along
the Churnet Valley, stopping only at Leek to pick up/set down passengers to or from beyond Nottingham. Freight
traffic suffered from the effects of the Great Depression, the most
notable casualty being the ceastion of operations at Caldon Low quarries,
although they subsequent re-opened when the LMS found a lessee for the
quarry. The narrow gauge line between the quarry and Froghall closed in
1936 and all output was shipped via the Waterhouses branch, which left the
Churnet Valley line at Leekbrook Junction.
Wartime
services
With the
outbreak of World War II the
line as with most British railways moved to an emergency timetable. The Churnet
Valley was unusual in that the basic service was improved in terms of number of
services even if the timings were slower. The increase in services was due to
Bolton's at Froghall being an important munitions site and Alton Towers
becoming 121 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Royal Artillery.
British
Railways
Following
Nationalisation, the line became part of the London Midland Region of British Railways.
Passenger services remained fairly consistent with the wartime levels of 5 up
trains and 6 down trains a day with additional workmen's services between Leek
and Uttoxeter. Falling passenger numbers throughout the 1950s led to a proposal
in 1959 for the withdrawal of all advertised passenger services between
Macclesfield and Uttoxeter and the retention of the non advertised workmen's services between Leek and Uttoxeter only. Despite objections the proposal was
implemented on 7 November 1960. This did not stem the financial losses on the
line, and the entire line between Leek and North Rode closed in June 1964. At
the same time local goods facilities were withdrawn at all other stations
except Leek followed in January 1965 by the withdrawal of the workmen's services
over the south section between Leek and Uttoxeter and the closure of the line
south of Oakamoor.
This left the line with public goods services from Leek to Stoke and
bulk sand traffic from Oakamoor. The Leek services lasted until 1970 when the
line between Leek and Leekbrook Junction closed but the Oakamoor sand traffic
continued until 1988.
Preservation
In 1971 a
preservation society, the Cheshire and Staffordshire Railway
Society, were looking for a site. One of their first possible locations was the
section of line between Rudyard and Leek but this fell through with the
demolition of the Leek station buildings in 1973. Still looking for a site the
society now renamed the North Staffordshire Railway Society managed
to secure a lease on Cheddleton from its new owners, Staffordshire County Council.
Despite not having access to the track through the station, as this was
part of the line to Oakamoor the members established a small heritage site.
With the withdrawal of the last freight services from Oakamoor in 1988, the
society was able to take over the line and commence bigger operations. Since
then the society has reopened the stations at Cheddleton, Consall and Kingsley
& Froghall.
Future
Moorland
and City Railways, a new rail company, are set to enter
talks with Staffordshire County Council with a view to reopening the railway to
Alton Towers. This would allow trains to go directly from Stoke-on-Trent and
Leek to Alton Towers.
Continue
along the trackbed until you reach Alton Station with its platforms and
impressive station building still in situ
Alton station opened on 13 July 1849 and was built in an Italianate villa style. It was used by the Early of Shrewsbury who had a luggage lift
installed to hoist his baggage up to Alton Towers, his gothic revival residence which is situated
at the top of nearby Bunbury Hill The
station also comprised a three-storey tower which contained the Earl's suite of
waiting rooms and its platform
was particularly long to satisfy the Earl's desire to have impressive
surroundings in which to receive his guests converted the waiting-room
to provide additional accommodation space. The buildings are occasionally open
to the public as part of an "Open Day" scheme run by the Trust.
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Passing under the road bridge we continue along the trackbed crossing
the River Churnet via the railway bridge.
Follow the route with O/S map 259 Derby Ashbourne
Theres a bus from Derby to Denstone Trent-Barton Swift Derby -Uttoxeter service Stop is outside & opposite The Tavern PH
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