The Roaches

Dismal Day

(Panasonic Lumix TZ10)
The weather is very poor. Rain and mist for most of the day. This photo taken from the Morridge Road looking towards the Roaches and Ramshaw Rocks. Just about the best view I've got for today!

White Nancy

White Nancy

(Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 10-24mm @ 17mm, 1/1600s @ f/7.1)
After very poor weather over the past week today is an improvement with sunshine and showers. This striking monument on the top of Kerridge near Macclesfield is called White Nancy. It was built in 1817 by local land owner John Gaskell to commemorate the victory at Waterloo. It is not clear where the name came from though it may be called after Gaskell's daughter "Nancy". The 5 mtr tall conical structure was built as a summer house and had a door and benches inside but the door has been blocked up for many years. About 35 years ago I lived nearby and could see the monument and the ridge on which it stands from the bedroom window.

Boat on the Caldon Canal

Working boat converted for leisure use on the Caldon Canal

(Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 10-24mm @ 24mm, 1/320s @ f/7.1)
A pleasant but cool spring day today after a wild and snowy day yesterday. This traditional working boat has been converted to leisure use by adding windows (and presumably reinforcing the walls) to the oilskin and rope cover of the cargo area. In its working days the boatman and his family would have lived in the painted section at the rear of the boat. Sometimes the family had six or even more children, all eating and sleeping in the 6 foot by 10 foot cabin. This photo taken near Cheddleton.

Quarry Bank Mill

Quarry Bank Mill (from the River Bollin side)

(Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 10-24mm @ 10mm, 1/640s @ f/7.1)
Quarry Bank Mill at Styal in Cheshire is a cotton mill founded in the 1784 century by Samuel Greg. The mill, together with its gardens and Styal Country Park, is now in the care of the National Trust. The machinery in the mill was powered by a waterwheel. This was eventually replaced by steam engines but now a replacement of the original wheel is operational and is the most powerful in Europe delivering up to 100 HP. At weekends demonstrations of mill machinery used in spinning and weaving cotton are given by NT staff and volunteers. Below is a photo of water powered weaving looms in action. A visit is highly recommended.

Oakamoor Bridge

Oakamoor Bridge

(Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 10-24mm @ 14mm, 1/500s @ f/8)
Oakamoor bridge was built in 1710 to carry the turnpike road safely across the river Churnet. Oakamoor is the original home of the copper works of Thomas Bolton. The photo is taken from the site of the copper works. The works closed in the 1960s and very little trace of it remains. Its claim to fame is that it manufactured the copper cable that made up the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858.

Used Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce Diesel Shunter

(Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 10-24mm @ 16mm, 1/250s @ f/8)
"Psst! Anyone want to buy a second hand Rolls? Low mileage, in need of some attention!" This rusting and forlorn looking Rolls-Royce diesel shunter stands near to the National Stone Centre in Wirksworth. This photo taken on my walk yesterday.

Middleton Top

Middleton Top Engine House

(Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 10-24mm @ 10mm, 1/1000s @ f/8)
Another beautiful spring day tempted me on another walk on the High Peak Trail. This footpath and bridleway follows to line of the dismantled Cromford and High Peak Railway. The first part of the railway was built in 1830 to a design by Josiah Jessop, the son of the canal engineer William Jessop. It was clear that a canal would be impossible over the terrain so a tramway was built. This was to connect the Cromford Canal near Matlock with the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. There were several steep inclines on the tramway, the one at Middleton is 1 in 8½, too steep for the horse drawn trams or for their later replacements, steam locomotives. Instead a stationary steam engine was built at the top of the incline which pulled the wagons up by a cable. The tramway was laid to standard gauge (4' 8½") and the first steam engine was assigned in 1841, The "Peak" built by Robert Stephenson. Astonishingly, the line was still in operation up to 1963!
The engine house at Middleton Top still houses the original pair of beam engines, built in 1829, and both have been restored to full working condition by the Middleton Top Engine and Leawood Pump Group and can be seen in operation on certain dates through the year. They are the oldest working rotative beam engines in the world in working order and in their original site.