Distance: just over 5 miles

Difficulty of the terrain: medium

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. from Dropbox

A countryside walk in Derbyshire’s White Peak between Ambergate Station and the interesting – pretty quirky – ancient lead mining town of Wirksworth.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

Wirksworth: Derbyshire’s Ancient Lead Mining Capital

There is a tiny stone carving in the church of St. Mary’s which sits at the heart of the small mid-Derbyshire town of Wirksworth. Known as T’Owd Man of Bonsall the carving, which is believed to have originally been situated in the church at nearby Bonsall before going missing and reappearing in Wirksworth, depicts the figure of a miner wielding a pick and carrying a trug. 

The existence of this carving, which is thought to be at least 800 years old, points to how important lead mining and the extraction of other metals and minerals was in the Peaks of Derbyshire from ancient times up until the 20th Century. It has hard, dangerous work for those engaged in it, something heightened by the poisonous quality of many of the ores miners worked to extract and refine. Research conducted a few years ago into the metals content of glacial ice in the Swiss Alps indicates that levels of airborne lead pollution of European in the 12th and 13th Centuries were comparable to during the Industrial Revolution, something which points to the sheer scale of the mining and refining operation that was being undertaken in Derbyshire during that period. This is perhaps the reason why the carving came to be in the church, recognition from the community that their living depended upon the risks taken by the miners and other workers toiling to produce usable lead.

From ancient times, throughout the middle ages and the early modern period, up until near our own era; Europeans lead used for pipework and to waterproof the roofs of churches and other major buildings. During the 15th and 16th Centuries demand only increased, as new uses were found for the metal in the forms of musket shot, and as a long lasting yet flexible means to fix in place panes of the increasingly commonplace window glass.

Wealth produced from the Derbyshire rock by the efforts of miners from towns like Wirksworth flowed into the coffers of the areas’ major landowners like the Cavendishes who built several of the enormous stately homes that today bring coach parties to the county in their droves. It also flowed into the town itself, which today has a fine core of medieval building’s arrayed around its 13th Century marketplace and St. Mary’s Church. Many of these buildings have more modern facades from the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries, but behind their fronting brick and stonework they retain wooden frames and interiors which are far older. 

It is also present in the town’s small – but pretty grand – Barmote Court building. Established by the Duchy of Lancaster in the late 13th Century, much like the more widely known stannaries of the Devon and Cornwall tin mining districts, the Barmote Court exists to adjudicate on matters relating to tin mining rights. Initially Wirksworth’s Barmote Court only had jurisdiction over the White Peak, however, since the early 19th Century when lead mining in Derbyshire began contracting, it has jurisdiction over seams across the entire county. Today it still meets annually, and whilst lead mining has barely existed in Derbyshire since prior to the Second World War, is not a picturesque pre-modern relic, as recently as 2013 it was called upon to make a ruling with regards to who had to rights to exploit a seam of lead in a cavern near Castleton.

These days Wirksworth, like many other small towns on the fringes of the Peak District, is a pretty, and fairly prosperous place home to many affluent commuters, home workers and retired people. However, to my mind a sense of mystique and a certain atmosphere, perhaps an echo from its liveliness and importance in centuries gone by still lingers. It also has several nice pubs and some interesting shops, as well as its numerous historic buildings and a station on the Ecclesbourne Heritage Railway, so is well worth exploring.

To this end I set out one day in late November to walk there from Ambergate, which has the nearest mainline railway station to the town; by my reckoning. A total distance of just over 5 miles crossing some interesting and varied White Peak countryside.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. from Dropbox

I create the Walk Midlands routes via Ordnance Survey Maps Explorer enabling me to take them on my phone. Subscribe yourself via the banner above.

Ambergate Station is located at the point where the main trunk of the Midlands Mainline between Derby and Sheffield forks, with the little branch line that runs up the Derwent Valley to Matlock metamorphosing into a north westerly tributary. 

As you leave the elderly Super Sprinters which run on up to Matlock, and leave the village’s tiny little station, you enter a carpark.

Turn left and head towards the exit of this carpark.

Presently on your right you come to a flight of steps (there’s also step free access via a pavement which follows the line of the road). Head down these steps and continue walking straight a short distance until you come to the main road.

Once at the main road turn left and walk under the bridge which carries the Matlock branch line heading north west.

Walk for several hundred metres along this road. On the way you walk along a steep bank held back by a wall of grey stone. On the other side of the road is a green park-like area next to banks of the River Derwent, adjacent to which stands a pub.  

Presently you reach a t-junction next to an old chapel-like building.

Cross the road here and turn right down the single track road which branches off the main road you have been walking along.

Take care at this point as it was quite busy with cars turning in both directions and seemingly not especially alert to pedestrians when I walked this part of the route at just before 11:00 in the morning.

After a short distance along the lane you come to a lightly wooded area just before the banks of the River Derwent.

You then cross over an old stone bridge which heads across the River. This affords good views along the steep wooded banks lining this section of the Derwent Valley.

Shortly after the bridge, a semi-paved track, on your right hand side leads off the lane.

Take this right hand turning and enter the thicker woodland on this side of the river.

Once on this track keep following it for over half a mile.

The first section is quite flat and runs close to the valley floor with the River Derwent running close to you on your right hand side.

Here you are quite close to the White Peak Gin Distillery which is sign-posted along the track.

Presently the semi-paved track you are walking along begins to curve up a hill heading further into the trees and up the side of the valley away from the river.

Along the way you pass several driveways leading to houses which sit amidst the trees.

As you climb up the steadily sloping, but not especially taxing hill, a pleasant view opens up on your right looking out across the valley to the other tree lined hills in the distance.

Eventually the road begins to narrow, and eventually you head around a corner and are confronted by a gate standing in front of the final house on this stretch of track.

Head through the gate and past the house’s driveway to head down another smaller track on the farside.

This leads further into the woodland. The woods that you are now entering are called Shining Cliff Woods. In some ways their history is just as interesting, varied and worthy of marvel as that of an ancient town like Wirksworth. From 1284 until 1515 they were part of an ancient hunting forest called the Fee of Duffield. Access to the wood’s an their resources would have been highly restricted and stringently policed during this period. After the forest was abolished however, access to land was freed up, with workers engaged in small-scale industry burning charcoal, coppicing trees and opening up small quarries in the area. Larger scale industry steadily pushed out these small concerns during the 19th Century with an industrial reservoir being dug in the woodland during the 1870s to supply the Richard Johnson and Nephew wireworks in Ambergate. 

During the 1930s, however, a trace of the scrappier earlier forms of enterprise in the area resurfaced after a fashion, in the form of Grith Fyrd, a small not for profit organisation formed to create forestry and craft work for unemployed men. They ran a small self-sufficient community in the woodland up until the outbreak of the Second World War. The Grith Pioneers, an organisation tracing direct descent from Grith Fyrd continue to manage Shining Cliff Woods to this day. Having reoriented itself towards supporting children and young people during World War Two by opening a residential school of evacuees, in various guises the organisation has continued to manage the woods and run activities, including forestry and conservation related ones, for children and young people to this day. Their work was recognised about 35 years ago by the Environment Agency when they declared the woods a site of Special Scientific Interest.         

After walking a short way through the woods you will come to an information board and a path sloping off to your right. The path is blocked by a chain, presumably to try and deter people on motorbikes.

Turn right down this path as it slopes steadily down hill.   

Keep following this path as it steadily slopes back uphill.

Presently you will come to a narrow wooden bridge crossing over a stream called Peatpits Brook.

This is immediately adjacent to a small pool of water.

Cross over the bridge and walk along the side of the pool of water.

At the far side of the pool of water, next to a rocky outcrop, take the path on the left hand side heading uphill.

It initially looks quite narrow but soon broadens out.   

Carry on this path heading steadily uphill. Here and there you encounter chicahine type structures, which like the chains are presumably placed there to stop people using motorised vehicles from accessing the woods. 

Presently you come to a junction in the path. Turn left at this point and continue a short distance.

You reach another junction in the path at this point, turn left again and walk a little further, heading uphill.

At this stage you soon arrive at a clearing and what seems a little like a carpark. This is also blocked off with a chain, and on the day I visited it was surrounded by a fleet of shiny wheel barrows, presumably part of the children and young people’s conservation project.

Having passed the chain walk for no more than 20 to 30 metres, passing a standing stone type structure on your left set a little way back from the path, which apparently is a war memorial dedicated to all those who have died in conflict.

Just after this point, turn right.

After a short walk which gently slopes uphill, turn right once more.

Presently a drystone wall appears on your right. At the end of the drystone wall stands a gate.

Turn through this gate on your left.

You are now leaving the woods.

Walk straight ahead towards the gate on the far side of the field.

Pass through this gate and keep on walking, following the path that gently curves left across the heathland before you.

From here you can get a good view of the limestone dales around you, which gives a clear sense of why this landscape is called the White Peak.

Presently as you walk you come to a tall drystone wall on your left.

This leads onto a clearer rutted track following the line of the wall which leads towards a gate.

Once at the gate head through it and keep on walking straight along the path in front of you guided by the drystone wall on your left and a wire fence on your right.

You now enter a landscape quite akin to parkland, something perhaps created by the inhabitants of the white washed, vaguely classical looking big house which is visible on your right hand side. Today this building houses an independent school.

Following the ruts of a car track through this landscape, you pass a large white celtic cross.

At the bottom of this track you pass through a short wooded section and onto the road leading through the small village of Alderwasley.

Keep following the road up through the village past the scattered houses.

Presently after a short distance it begins to slope upwards. At this point amidst some trees on your left you see some kind of electrical box.

Just after this electrical box stands a footpath sign.

Turn left off the road and follow the footpath down a short bank.

At the bottom of the bank turn right and begin walking along a well trodden footpath.

This leads steadily up through a woodland.

Passing through a gate on the way.

There are some nice views across a shallow dale to your left.

Presently you leave the woodland and enter a further parkland style section.

Walk across this until you come to a gate. Pass through the gate.

On the other side of the gate you reach a track.

Follow the track until you reach another gate.

At this point turn left onto the road.

You then remain on the road for an extensive distance of around a mile. 

I found it to be fairly quiet when I was walking along it around midday and there are generally quite good grass verges which you can retreat to, when cars approach.

Keep walking along the road as it leaves the village of Alderwasley. Alderwasley appears to be one of those places which whilst it is really small is very strung out.

Presently you come to a road called Back Lane on your left. Instead of turning down there, keep straight on walking along the road.

There are some pleasant views over the tops of the hills as you walk along.

After 15 or so minutes walking you come to a footpath sign on your left.

Being bored of the road I decided to follow it into the field for some variety.

However, it only leads out onto a parallel road which – heading right – soon merges with the road that you are already walking along, so this was a fairly pointless move on my part.

The two roads merge at the edge of Wirksworth Moor which stretches away from you on the right hand side.

At this point you are beginning to near Wirksworth.

The road running along the top of the Moor which you are following runs very straight, although it does undulate a bit, but it is possible to make good progress.

Presently the road begins sloping downwards again.

At this point you can clearly see the gouges on the far side of the valley you are approaching. These were created between the late-19th and mid-20th Century when Wirksworth switched away from the declining lead mining industry towards quarrying limestone. The environmental and health effects of this quarrying so near to the town could be pretty horrific. Indeed dust and other pollution could be so bad that some residents abandoned their homes near the quarry, whilst the town itself was considered blighted. Eventually practice was phased out with quarrying efforts shifting to the massive Middle Peak Quarry, further away from the town, which has itself since shut. Since the 1970s, a reclamation scheme initially led by Tarmac who operated the Middle Peak Quarry and since the 1990s by Wirksworth Town Council has attempted to undo some of the scarring of the landscape through tree planting and other initiatives.

A little further on and the road enters the little hamlet of Moor Farm. Keep walking straight along the road into the heart of the little village.

Ahead of you stands white washed pub, walk towards it.

The pub is called the Malt Shovel Inn. It stands at a crossroads of sorts in the centre of the little village.

Turn left down the road next to it.

A little way down the road a footpath sign is visible on your right hand side.

Walk up the little bank towards it and enter the field beyond.

Head down the visible track through the field.

Presently it leads you to an ancient look hedgerow by a rather gnarled tree. Set within this is a stone style, which you should cross over.

Once on the other side of the style head down the fairly steep hill in front of you.

Before you Wirksworth stretches out at the bottom of the valley.

Make your way down towards the valley following the grain of the land to the left.

Presently part way down the hill you arrive at an area bounded by undergrowth on both sides which is clearly used by the shepherds tending the sheep in the fields as there are 4×4 or quad bike tracks.

Walk across this area following the tracks in the grass and head left towards the line of the hedgerow on the other side bounding the road.

Here you come to a metal fence enclosing the sheep, and a very homemade looking gate which leads out onto a better defined footpath.

Once on the other side of the gate head down the footpath.

Presently this leads out onto a road heading down into the town.

Turn right and follow this road down the hill passing some of the first houses in Wirksworth on the way.

At the base of the hill you come to a bridge which leads over the Ecclesbourne Heritage Railway line.

When I visited there was an impressive selection of mostly early diesel multiple unit trains and some locomotives stood around the station platform. The offices, cafe and main visitor centre of the organisation which runs the railway are on the far side of the bridge on the right.

If you continue walking past the railway, you soon come to a small square with a chapel on your left.

Having reached here it is only about another 20 or 30 metres to Wirksworth Market Square.

Here there are various places to get some food or refreshments if needed, and all of the main attractions of the town are within easy walking distance.

Getting Back

Probably the easiest way to get back to the railway to and from Derby is to catch the hourly (until 21:55 when the last one leaves on weekdays and Saturdays) “Little Sixes” bus from Market Square to Belper which takes around 25-30 minutes. From here you can use your Ambergate return ticket to get the train back to Derby and from there head north, south, east or west to where you came from. If you would prefer a somewhat more outre travel experience, the Ecclesbourne Railway offers an adult single ticket (for a reasonable for a heritage railway) eight pounds. So you could buy a single and travel to Duffield where the Ecclesbourne Railway interchanges with the Network Rail mainline and it is possible to return to Derby from there. The last train on the day when I made the journey left at 14:55 and took around half an hour.