Above: The front cover and a sample spread from the book. I’ve been planning to publish a book on the Goyt Valley for some time, using the information and photos I’ve managed to collect over the years working on this website. And now the great day has...
Above: The records were kept at the Derbyshire Bridge Rangers’ hut, along with some display boards. It’s a great pity that it’s been a while since the place was open to the public. I decided to grasp the proverbial nettle and set to work scanning the...
Above: A couple of examples from the collection – a wonderful photo showing four houses near Goyt’s Moss. And a small booklet describing life at the reservoir waterworks from the 1950s to the late ’90s. There’s nothing like a deadline for...
Above: The packhorse bridge with the stepping stones just visible over the Goyt after the surrounding farm houses and barns had been demolished, probably taken in the 1940s. The bridge would be saved and rebuilt further upstream in 1965, just before this part of the...
Above: The hamlet of Goyt’s Bridge which now lies under the waters of Errwood Reservoir. I’ve circled Errwood Hall in the distance. The large barn mentioned by Crichton may be the one at far right. I’m not sure when the photo was taken...
Above: A postcard view of the Cat & Fiddle that looks like it could have been taken in the 1950s – when Crichton published his book. I’ve circled the famous cat and fiddle carving which in those days lay above the door. Today it’s incorporated...
Above: Published in 1963, ‘Portrait of Peakland’ was one of many books written by Crichton Porteous on Derbyshire and the Peak District. This extract includes a ghostly apparition seen by two Errwood Hall maids in 1914. I wonder whether either of the two...
Above: The entry for Errwood Hall is headed by this fine photo, probably taken in the 1920s. This description of Errwood Hall is taken from a popular coffee-table book, The Derbyshire Country House, by Maxwell Craven and Michael Stanley. There are a few facts that...
Above: The caption under the photo of Goyts Bridge mentions a ‘very pretty old mill’. I don’t think there was a mill in Goyt’s Bridge, so it must have been the one at Goytsbridge. This closed in 1890, so it must have been derelict at the time....
Above: A photo of Dickie’s skull from Clifford’s book. I hadn’t heard of the legend of Tunstead Dickie’s skull before reading Clifford Rathbone’s ‘Goyt Valley Story’; a collection of articles he wrote for the Macclesfield...
