Julie Bunting

Longstone Edge by Jez Ward

Trips Below the Peak District

Blue John Cavern and Blue John Mine, Castleton Of the fourteen distinct veins of Blue John, which is a unique ornamental mineral, no less...

THE PRINCE OF WALES & THE SINNERS OF TIDESWELL

In times past, royal visitors to the Peak were few and far between, but one day the Prince of Wales unexpectedly dropped in on Tideswell....

THE BRADWELL FEVER

Whilst Eyam is the most obvious place in the Peak to be linked to the word ‘plague’, parish records of other villages also contain...

Longnor

Many years ago a guide book crowned the village of Longnor “Capital of the moorlands”, lying as it does midway between the Dove and...

The life and history of Brassington

by Julie Bunting Undocumented pre-history begins the story of the Brassington region with its numerous tumuli and finds of prehistoric...

JAMES BRINDLEY, A SON OF WORMHILL

Beside the main road in Wormhill is a stone drinking fountain inscribed ‘In memory of James Brindley, Canal Engineer, Born in this parish...

Samuel Fox of Bradwell

A certain item was once praised for its usefulness in beating dangerous dogs, stopping mad bulls in their tracks and thrashing erring...

SECRETS OF BAKEWELL BATH HOUSE

Bakewell seems to have been destined for fame for one reason or another but not, as some once hoped, as a spa. In the past there were...

DITTO WINE, SERVED AT EYAM

Around two hundred years ago, a couple named John and Mary Howe took over what was described as a neat and commodious inn opposite Eyam...

HOME COMFORTS AND HOT COALS

Six pairs of bed socks, a hot stone straight from the oven, flues cleaned out with a holly branch and a load of coal under the stairs....

JUD’S APRIL FOOLS

Over the years we have occasionally printed jokes written anonymously for a publication long out of print. Rich in local dialect, they...

BONSALL – BUNT’S CORNER OF LAND

If the difference between a village and a town is the existence of a market, then it is hard to say exactly where Bonsall stands....

When the Peak Was Blotted Out

Perhaps the peakland’s worst winter of all time was that which swept in on violent blizzards in the early February of 1947. Beneath a...

Forts and Castles of the Peak

Whether prehistoric earthwork or loater stone castle, a defensive stronghold was built to last, and it is still possible to visit a...