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| View of Woodborough from Ploughman Wood |
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| Not all grass and tarmac |
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| Approaching The Hut. This impressive mansion on the brow of Eliment Hill north of Lowdham Church stands on the site of a home that was once made of old railway carriages! |
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| The original image of St Mary's Church, Lowdham - coffee stop |
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| A better image courtesy of ChatGPT - amazing |
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| This pipe over the Dover Beck at Wash Bridge is possibly one of the main Severn Trent water supplies to south Notts |
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| Outside the (closed) Nevile Arms |
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| Trent Valley Internal Drainage Board digger dredging the River Smite |
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| Outside the Village Hall |
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| Colston Bassett Hall |
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| The 14th Century ruin of St Mary's Church |
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| Overgrown Grantham Canal |
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The Poplar Trees information board on the Grantham Canal The original avenue of 184 Lombardy poplar trees was planted by Sir Jesse William Hind and dedicated to the memory of his son Lt. Francis Montagu Hind, who was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme on 27th September 1916. The trees also commemorate the 183 other officers and men of the 9th Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters Regiment, who died between 7th July (when the battalion entered the battle) and 30th November 1916 (the official end of the battle). |
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| St Luke's Church, Kinoulton |
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| St Peter and St Pauls's Church |
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| War Memorial |
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| Fine display in Church Warsop |
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| Cuckney Water Meadows |
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| Cuckney Water Meadows information board (see below for detail) |
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| Church Warsop display |
Cuckney Water Meadows
A water meadow is a man-made pasture irrigation system designed to allow a shallow layer of water to flow over ‘panes’ of grass during cold winters – a practice called ‘floating’ or ‘drowning’ the meadow. In contrast to flooded meadows, the flowing water was kept oxygenated and being warmer than frosty soil, stimulated growth. This allowed more hay to feed livestock, and therefore more manure to fertilise surrounding land. The system was also used to irrigate hay crops in summer, naturally supplying the soil with nutrients and sediment.
Water meadows are operated by finely tuning the levels in rivers and adjacent carriers (artificial channels), to provide a continuous trickle of water over the area. The stream is spanned by a ware, that can be used to hold back water and to raise the level on the upstream side so that it will flow through the meadow. Sluices on the carrier can be raised to permit water to flow out over the turf.
After passing through the meadow the water enters a bottom carrier and is taken back to the river below the ware or the carriers. By carefully operating the ware and the sluices, the drains have a greater fall than the mains to prevent the land becoming waterlogged and to ensure water is carried away as fast as possible.
Water meadows once ran almost continuously along the River Poulter from Cuckney to Minthorpe. They were commissioned by the 4th Duke of Portland between 1839–1850 and are thought to be the last primarily intact water meadows constructed by the Welbeck Estate. The main section of water meadows was watered from Cuckney dam, along a man-made channel called ‘The Water Lane’ the remains of which can still be seen today.
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| Parfitt Drive car park |
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| Planted in 2000 - alledgedly |
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| Howard points out the excellent views to the north - as advertised |
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| Entering Combs Wood |
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| This sunken, green lane, known as Rob's Lane on old maps, is an ancient packhorse track that might date back to Norman times |
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| Crossing Halam Beck on a new footbridge replacing the one dislodged in 2023 and subsequenty closed |
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| Approaching St Michael the Archangel Church - lunch stop |
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| Last climb before dropping down to Farnsfield - sunshine at last |
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| St Mary the Virgin, Bunny |
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| Bunny Moor |
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| Crossing Fairham Brook |
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| Fairham Brook on its way from near Old Dalby to join the Trent near Clifton Bridge. Shown here draining The Moors, a flat fenland landscape comprising Bunny, Bradmore and Gotham Moors |
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| Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's Bunny Old Wood is an ancient coppiced woodland – referred to in the Domesday Book in the 11th Century. It is believed that Saxon settlers harvested timber here and, in 1487, Henry VII and his army camped nearby ahead of the Battle of East Stoke. The wood, which covers 16 hectares, was donated to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust by British Gypsum in 1985. Whilst famed for its springtime displays of bluebells, the wood is home to a wealth of other wildlife. Trees include ash and field maple and more than 50 species of bird, including lesser-spotted woodpecker, have been recorded. Elm used to be the dominant canopy species before Dutch Elm disease took hold in the 1970s. Some regrowth still remains and provides food for the caterpillars of the white-letter hairstreak butterfly |
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| British Gypsum in 2022 helped create this bat hotel in an old ammunition store in Bunny Old Wood |
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| Silver Seal Mine entrance Gypsum mining in the area first started in 1914, currently takes place at Marblaegis Mine and now covers an area of 3,850 hectares. Marblaegis Mine is actually made up of two mines, Marblaegis and Silver Seal. Silver Seal was entered from here and the Marblaegis is entered via a drift at British Gypsum near East Leake |
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| Almhouse in Bunny built by Sir Thomas Parkyns (1662-1741) |
Thanks to all the walk leaders and assistants, to Scott for arranging the hotel booking and all nineteen members who either stayed at the hotel or joined us on the day for some magnificent walks in glorious weather.
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| Peverill of the Peak Hotel |
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| Hotel gardens |
Sue's 7.2 mile walk took us up over Wetton and Ecton Hills to Ecton Mine buildings overlooking the Manifold valley for a lunch stop. We then followed the Manifold Trail past Wettonmill before climbimg back up to Wetton past Thor's Cave.
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| The start near the car park in Wetton |
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| Evidence of mine workings on Wetton Hill |
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| Manor House, formerly known as Pepper Inn, was once a button factory and also an isolation hospital during a smallpox outbreak among the workmen building the Manifold Railway |
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| Ecton Mine buildings - lunch stop |
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| Ecton Mine was almost unique in being a rich copper mine in an area of Derbyshire usually associated with lead mining. The ore was formed by hydrothermal fluids rising in vertical fissures in the rock 180 million years ago and is concentrated in a vertical quasi-cylindrical pipe which surfaces at the top of Ecton Hill and is approached horizontally along a tunnel cut into the hill from the mine buildings. |
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| Although it is thought that Ecton Hill was mined in the Bronze Age, it was not until 1760 that the it was developed seriously when the Duke of Devonshire assumed direct control and major investments were made. By 1767 the mine was 290m deep and 130m of this was below the Manifold and had to be artificially drained. Ecton was briefly the most prolific copper source in the world, and the Duke was able to use it to finance his construction of a new spa resort at Buxton. By the 1780’s Ecton’s 4000 tons per annum output was equivalent to 12% of the entire output of Cornwall’s many copper mines and the mine was the deepest in the world. Further reserves were made accessible by installing a Watt steam engine and by 1795 the Ecton Deep Shaft was 400m deep with 280m of this was below the Manifold. |
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| Ecton Mine Engine House - drawing of the Duke of Devonshire's Watt steam engine (1795) used to pump water from the Duke's 400m deep copper mine, 280m of which was below the Manifold River |
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| Ecton Mine buildings on the path down to the Manifold |
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| The Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway track was converted to its present use as a footpath and cycleway by Staffordshire Council in 1937 |
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| Manifold - The Disappearing River, reappears near Ilam Park |
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| Bridge over the Manifold |
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| Palaeolithic hunters once lived under the great roof of Thor’s Cave and watched wolves, bears and woolly rhinoceros in the valley below |
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| Slightly off-route - entrance to Thor's Cave |
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| View from inside the cave. More photos can be found here when we last walked in this area in 2014 |
