The group has a very wide but extremely interesting scope – The History and Culture of Derbyshire, and Yorkshire.
Since inception in February 2018 we have covered the early history of Darley (from 1066) through to the history of coal mining in the region including the fascinating story behind Wentworth Woodhouse. There was an outing to Cutler’s Hall in Sheffield and there are plans for a springtime visit to Wentworth Woodhouse. The group is now full but there is a waiting list.
We meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 10:30am.
The 2019 programme is:
| August | Socks, Stockings and the History of Knitting |
| September | A History of the Cromford Canal |
| October | Whitby: Artistic and Literary Associations |
| November | The History of Well Dressings in Derbyshire |
| December | A History of the High Peak Railway |
The History Group 5 coordinator is Roger Clough, who can be contacted by e-mail , or by telephone on 01629 736860 .
History group 5 from Roger Clough
We’ve not been meeting as a group. Most members live in St Elphin’s and within the village we have been keeping in touch with each other via a weekly newsletter, focused mostly around sharing memories, our personal histories. Trevor Smith told us about his father “purchasing a stage coach and taking the family for trips around the locality. Circular routes via Chatsworth, Bakewell and home via Rowsley. Other times up the Via Gelia, Winter, Pickery Corner and back to Darley Dale – our longest local trip.” And then the coach was used to take the family for holidays to Norfolk: “On an average day the journey would be about 30 miles with a break every 2 hours – speed around 6 mph. The interim breaks were 15 minutes with 90 minutes for lunch. About 7 hours on the road each day. Arriving at our evening’s destination, it was all hands to the pump. Each of us mucked in to groom the horses, clean the harness and feed the animals before we retired to our night’s lodgings for a spruce up and an evening meal.”
Trevor is at the back blowing the horn.
This triggered memories from two other people. Ray Harrison lived in Darley Dale and, as a 13 or 14 year old, remembers “seeing this fantastic sight of Trevor and family going down the A6 in the coach & four. (Watching the toffs go by!).” Susan Harby had a long association with Red House Stables, run by Trevor’s sister Caroline Dale-Leech, and recalls her mother hiring the Stagecoach as a Christmas treat to drive through Chatsworth and back via Bakewell and a pub stop for a meal. She went on to work as a steward at the Chatsworth Country Fair.
*Photo by kind permission of Trevor Smith