Click on any of the photos below to enlarge.
It looks like it may have been taken in the 1890s – or even earlier. In the later photos below, the road has been extended through into the farmyard.
The track from high on the moors at Derbyshire Bridge, through Goyt’s Bridge, and then on towards Macclesfield along the old Roman road, would have been used by merchants transporting everything from salt and spices to household goods and building materials since medieval times – and probably long before.
On the illustration below, the Goyt is flowing from the right across the ford, to join Wildsmorestone Brook which flows under the packhorse bridge. Goytsbridge Farm is on the left, and Goytshead Farm on the right.
But whereas the rest of Goyt’s Bridge has vanished beneath the waters of Errwood reservoir, the small bridge has miraculously survived. Although not many people who pass it on the road to Derbyshire Bridge may realise it.
Page update: December 2021
The packhorse bridge has been closed for repair since April 2021 (click for details). I first noticed water was getting into the stonework at the southeast corner in September 2019. Since then, the damage has got far worse.
But it’s only now – in December 2021 – that the landowners, United Utilities, have put up any kind of protection to prevent further deterioration. And we still don’t have a date for when it will be repaired and reopened.
One reason may be that they don’t consider it worthy of protection as it’s no longer in its original state, having been moved to its current position in the mid 1960s. Click this link to read details of the bridge on the UK’s Heritage Gateway website.
I’ve just found a possible date for the bridge – 1762 according to Ernest Hinchcliffe’s ‘Packhorse Bridges of England’. He thinks it may have been built at the same time as the two nearby farmhouses. He also says it was on an old salt route leading from the Cheshire ‘Witches’ to Buxton via Macclesfield. I’m planning a page on these ancient trackways which cross Goyt’s Bridge.
There’s one of these salt trails that runs through my parent’s farm, it’s like a long ditch, taller than a man. It’s in Macclesfield Forest between the Peak View tearooms and the Stanley Arms, close to and visible from a public footpath
I was very interested to read your account of the drowned hamlet of Goyt’s Bridge. This brought back many happy memories of visits made there in the 1950s with my aunt, Sue Crawford, who lived at Cold Springs Flat on the Manchester Road.
She had come across the ruined Errwood Hall by accident and it became a favourite walk. I particularly recall the packhorse bridge close to the bridge across the Goyt by Errwood Cottage and the shrine above the Hall. I don’t think there could have been much left of Goytshead Farm or Goytsbridge Farm as I don’t recall buildings there – but perhaps that is my memory playing up!
Goyt’s Bridge village must have been a magical place – we certainly loved the location!