Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Derbyshire

  • Hike Norfolk Camping Trip 2021 – Day 3

    Hike Norfolk Camping Trip 2021 – Day 3

    This is the little story of the Hike Norfolk camping trip, but since it’s a private trip and I’ll get into trouble if I try to give all of the behind the scenes gossip away, I’ll only give a taster of the event. Thirteen of us went on the trip and it was a three night stay in Edale which is in the Peak District in Derbyshire and where I started a walk from last year. Here’s day one and here’s day two.

    There was no Richard on the walk (he had gone shopping) so 12 of us took on the walk which went from Edale following a path by the side of the graveyard of Edale church.

    The footpath sign taking us towards the direction of Castleton.

    I think this is the same stream that runs at the base of the campsite that we’re staying at.

    The weather was moderate as we started off, but dark clouds were often on the horizon. I never read the weather forecast as it annoys me, but there was apparently (as others in the group are more assiduous than I am in their following climate issues) very conflicting information from the weather forecasters with some sources predicting rain and some predicting, well, no rain. It transpired there was quite a lot of rain later on in the day.

    This landscape might look beautiful, but look closely and there’s an enormous bull in the middle of the field.

    At this point I removed myself from being at the front of the group to being right in the middle of it. The bull made lots of noise and started to walk quickly towards the group. Ian, who is ridiculously brave (and frankly perhaps too brave), walked towards it and the bull then rushed off. That’s the sort of person that you need in an emergency…..

    We reached the summit of the mountain (technically a hill) that we were climbing and I was delighted to see that they’d paved the section to Mam Tor. I approved of this. The rain picked up quite heavily at this point, a situation that wasn’t entirely ideal.

    And the top of Mam Tor, which Wikipedia tells me means “mother hill”. It also tells me that the Mam Tor is alternatively known as Shivering Mountain, which I prefer since it has the word mountain in it and so makes the walk sound more difficult. Incidentally, I’ve only just discovered there’s an abandoned road (the A625) here which dates from the 1800s and was repaired until 1979 when a replacement was built. I want to see this next time I’m visiting the area…..

    Not a shop in sight…. BTW, good news about Richard’s shopping, he acquired an expensive bed for his giant tent.

    These flagstones fascinated me and I know that means that I really should get out more. But they are reused from cotton mills and many of them have holes in them from where things were attached to them. It really does feel like walking on history and the current property owners are pleased that they’re being reused, as previously they were a nightmare to get rid of. Apparently the stones are placed with care by hand, although goodness knows those big heavy lumps are moved into position. They have also been surfaced to avoid being slippery and I can confirm that I didn’t slip or slide once during the day.

    Some more landscape photos from the walk. We descended back down into Edale via a slightly different route to Jacob’s Ladder. We also saw a very brave cyclist pedalling his bike up the hill on a stony and rocky surface. I admired his fortitude.

    As we made good time a number of us decided to visit the Swiss Tap in Castleton. I went there last year and I’ll write about it separately again. I think we slightly annoyed the staff member by paying separately, but one person in the group kept ordering the most decadent gin he could afford and we couldn’t incorporate that into rounds.

    We then decided to go over the road to the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn. Since I’ve already written about that, I won’t add much more, but I will note that I was able to charge my phone up in both pubs. Having power in my devices is essential to me, and this gave me confidence that I had enough to get me through the entire camping trip, which was a burden lifted from my mind.

    Then it was back into Edale to enjoy another pub, which was the Nag’s Head, and I’ll again write that up separately. The beer was though acceptable, and indeed better than I had expected, and so all was well with the world. I have to confess to being quite tired by this stage of the day. Two nights of broken sleep whilst camping and lots of hill walking had rather taken it out of me. I then remembered that I’m not as young as I once was, although I’m still unsure that I always act my age. But there we go, maybe one day.

    It was then back to the campsite and it decided at that point to pour down with rain. Fortunately, we had nearly finished the five minute walk to the campsite before it really started to rain hard, so I was firmly ensconced in my tent by the time of the almost Biblical deluge. There’s something rather pleasant and primeval being inside a warm tent (well, a sort of warm tent) though whilst the rain hits the side. I’m also pleased to report that the tent remained intact and undamaged, although another member of our group did spring a leak overnight…..

  • Hike Norfolk Camping Trip 2021 – Day 2

    Hike Norfolk Camping Trip 2021 – Day 2

    This is the little story of the Hike Norfolk camping trip, but since it’s a private trip and I’ll get into trouble if I try to give all of the behind the scenes gossip away, I’ll only give a taster of the event. Thirteen of us went on the trip and it was a three night stay in Edale which is in the Peak District in Derbyshire and where I started a walk from last year. Here’s day one.

    I was pleased that the tent was still there when I woke up. Admittedly, it had to still be there since I was lying in it and the tent was so small that it couldn’t easily blow away. I hadn’t packed with great care (as usual) so wasn’t exactly snug overnight, but I hadn’t experienced any great difficulties. I had though pitched my tent over at least two pine cones (and a big twig) and that was a reminder to myself to carefully check the ground in future. To be honest, when erecting the tent I was more focused on ensuring there were no snakes in the nearby shrubbery that I overlooked the pine cone situation. I’ll put my thoughts about camping into the final post in this little series, that topic won’t be neglected.

    The start of the Pennine Way and also the beginning of our walk for the day. I decided that as the walk was only eight miles that I wouldn’t bother carrying a bag and I’d just eat my lunch before setting off to save carrying it. This is a new tactic of mine and I like it, just me and my water bottle.

    The start of the walk, a gentle slope in the footlands of the mountain range that we were tackling that day.

    I struggle to eat lamb as I find them so adorable. This one looked so sweet, adorable and lovely that I called it Mia and she liked that (I mean the actual sheep, not Liam’s baby Mia). I’d add that I don’t technically know that the sheep was a she, but it made the naming process easier if I assumed that.

    I’m a big fan of paving on hills if I’m being honest. I expect mountain purists would be horrified at that, but I’d have a set of steps up every mountain if it was up to me. With regular flat bits with Greggs or another cafe or pub on. I’d add that this isn’t the official policy of the Ramblers or the LDWA.

    The walk towards Jacob’s Ladder, in an area where I still didn’t have phone signal.

    This is Jacob’s Ladder, which I know as being the location where I get phone signal back after being in the Valley of Mobile Signal Death. Wikipedia notes that “in the 18th century Jacob Marshall farmed the land at Edale Head, at the top of what became known as Jacob’s Ladder. He cut steps into this steep section of the route up to the Kinder plateau”. I have no idea whether this is true or not.

    I took a similar photo of this sign last year that I made the main photo image of the LDWA’s long distance path Facebook group. Do join if you use Facebook!

    The good weather started to dissipate as we summited the mountain and entered the clouds. Dave Morgan will probably want to correct that to “walked up the slope of a small hill”, but I’m sticking to my words. I estimated the height of this to be around 3,000 metres, but it appears that it’s actually around 500 metres and that Ben Nevis is only 1,500 metres, so I clearly got muddled up somewhere with how far I thought I had climbed up.

    The views from one of the mountain peaks over Derbyshire, and indeed probably beyond.

    We decided to take a slightly different route to our walk of the previous year, which this time involved walking along a riverbank. In places the riverbank seemed to have collapsed which meant some traversing over gushing rivers that I considered to be as wide as the River Ganges in full flow. Following the path proved to be quite difficult, but I enjoyed this orienteering type challenge.

    Another water crossing we had to deal with and there were quite a few. Some of the group were quite nimble over these, but I won’t go into details.

    Some of the terrain we walked on.

    OK, I’ll admit that we had a little problem here as we were slightly lost. Technically we knew where we were, but we didn’t know where the path was and it’s fair to say that this isn’t an ideal situation. Fortunately, we had professionals on the team to get us sorted. Thanks Ian! I was glad that someone had a map and real compass, although there wasn’t much point in me having those as I get confused if there isn’t a blue dot on a screen telling me where I am. To be fair though, it’s hard to get lost on the top of a hill in Norfolk, so my navigational skills are slightly different (and mostly involves finding the nearest pub that serves decent beer).

    We didn’t see anyone for over an hour. Primarily as we weren’t on a path.

    After Ian got us back on track and onto an actual path we then descended and I thought that the views were really beautiful. My bravery was noted by several people on multiple occasions (well, two people twice).

    Back down the steps to the campsite. The eight mile walk had turned into around twelve miles, but I’m a hardened walker (on the flat anyway) so I decided this was fine.

    I kept waiting by my tent (well, not for hours, I wasn’t that bothered) for a train to go by and here it is.

    I’m a huge advocate for the pub industry and write negative things about them very sparingly, primarily as I rarely have any cause to do so. The welcome at the Rambler Inn was though hostile (actually the most hostile I’ve experienced at any British pub), although fortunately our group of six (the rest of the group were at the campsite as they wanted to sit outside in the cold for reasons known only to them) were spared the brunt of what I heard being offered to others. We asked for a table inside and were told no and that he wouldn’t be breaking the law by allowing us in as we were clearly from more two households. Firstly, we weren’t clearly from more than two households, but it’s irrelevant anyway, the law says “six people or two households”. But, none of us were going to mention this or argue, we just sat outside which was fine as there was a heated area. A welcome of “hi there, table for six but we’ve only got outdoors, is that OK?” would have been my personal ideal here. To be extra fair to the pub, perhaps the staff member on the front door had faced some troublesome groups over the day and was worn down by it, so I’ll be forgiving (but still feel obliged to recount my experience as it was the most extreme I’ve ever faced in the hospitality industry).

    As an aside, on Monday morning I was walking by the pub and a staff member ran out to confront a guest to tell them they were leaving without paying. The customer seemed bemused and mentioned that his wife was still inside and they weren’t leaving yet. I’m not sure I’ve ever witnessed this sort of thing either, the staff member seemed apologetic and said something about the booking company not making it clear that they didn’t take payment and the pub couldn’t access the card details. To be honest, this sounds a great pub that I’d like to stay in, I suspect I’d get very many stories. Equally, I can hardly stay there now I’ve written this, so we’ll let that lie there.

    The ordering process at the pub was via app, which worked perfectly for me. But there’s a flaw in the app, which the poor staff member had to explain to at least two tables, where you can’t use the saved card feature and have to retype the card numbers in again, otherwise it just rejects the order. Easily fixed though and I do appreciate that the pub had made the effort to have an app going, and technical difficulties with these aren’t rare at the moment. I tried the Farmers Blonde from Bradfield Brewery and the Wainwright from Marston’s Brewery, both perhaps unexceptional, but acceptable and well-kept.

    The fish and chips was served as a generous portion, although the batter was tasteless. The fish was though well cooked and tasted of a good quality, with the addition of a charred lemon being a nice touch. The batter wasn’t though greasy which is a positive, with the chips being fluffy inside. The mushy peas were bland, but it was all perfectly edible and served at the appropriate hot temperature. Staff despatched customers to go and get their own condiments from the front of the inn, but these were plentiful. Most of our group (but not me, I had more bloody sausage rolls* to eat at the campsite) also ordered the dessert of sticky toffee pudding, which was excellent and keenly priced at £5, so I’d say that the food was overall fine and the prices weren’t excessive.

    Two of us tried to get a table inside for drinks, but they were still full, so as it was getting cold we walked back to the camp-site.

    *when I say bloody sausage rolls, I meant I really got over-excited and over-bought them at Morrison’s, they didn’t literally have blood on them.

    Back in the party tent, this was surprisingly nice. It felt like a guilty pleasure, in the same way that I consider occasionally drinking Hooch to be. I shouldn’t admit that, but there we go….. Decadent craft beer from world class breweries is still my favourite tipple, I don’t want anyone think that my standards are plummeting.

    And that was the end of the second day of the trip, all really rather lovely.

  • Hike Norfolk Camping Trip 2021 – Day 1

    Hike Norfolk Camping Trip 2021 – Day 1

    This is the little story of the Hike Norfolk camping trip, but since it’s a private trip and I’ll get into trouble if I try to give all of the behind the scenes gossip away, I’ll only give a taster of the event. Thirteen of us went on the trip and it was a three night stay in Edale which is in the Peak District in Derbyshire and where I started a walk from last year.

    The drive up to Derbyshire was a bit sluggish as the volume of the traffic seemed high. We weren’t sure where to stop or whether we should try and get food in Edale, so we opted to find a Tesco Express. Then we spotted a Morrisons, so our little convoy of cars went there. I managed to get a couple of beers, a foot long sausage rolls, another bag of sausage rolls and some food for the next day’s walking. Certainly convenient.

    I discovered that about 100 metres from our campsite there was a railway station, so if I ever need to get back to Edale I could easily. It also only takes one connection from Norwich (change at Sheffield) and fares can be from as low as £20. I doubt I will be going back to Edale though as there was no phone signal (well, there is for EE, but I’m Vodafone). I know some people say that it’s good to get away from social media and e-mails, but I consider that to be piffle, as I need to upload photos to Facebook….

    The process of erecting the tents begins, although some had arrived earlier on in the day and had completed their arrangements. Fortunately, the rain held off for a while, which was useful as apparently it had rained for most of the day. Nearly all of this field was Hike Norfolk, with just a couple of other people from Yorkshire I think they said.

    My little tent is the one on the right, which Liam choose for me in Go Outdoors (I’m completely clueless with things like this). Liam and Leon also kindly made me a video of how to put the thing up, which proved to be most useful. I did get some help from Steve with the construction efforts of my tent, but I think I can erect the tent on my own next time. And there is a next time, as I got a cheap YHA camping deal when I’m going on my own for a few days, so I’ll have to deal with this alone….. I was pleased that there were just two poles and two bits of material, so that limited the number of mistakes I could make (although I still made about eight mistakes).

    This is the view from my tent (well, I was standing up here, as technically the view from my tent was the bottom of that hedge). That flat bit in the middle of the photo is the railway line, which was much busier than I expected. I liked the relatively regular sound of trains going along it, including freight trains at night. I used to think I like tranquility and quiet, but I like hustle and bustle which means I’m destined to live in cities forever.

    Observant readers of the blog will note that my tent is not very large, so this clearly isn’t a photo taken in my tent. I won’t name whose tent it is, but he owns the most decadent tent that I know. So that should be a clue.

    The campsite is relatively small, but it’s located across a few fields, with a lower section. At the base of the campsite is a river, which I could hear from my tent over the three night stay. Well, I could hear it when the rain and gales didn’t drown the sound out.

    I took some Guinness with me, but I also acquired a couple of cans at Morrisons. This was pretty decent and I consumed it with my sausage roll supper. That’s as decadent as I need in life.

    All told, I decided that the first day was a success as although the drive wasn’t the smoothest with the traffic, we got the tents up and everything seemed comfortable enough. I’d add now that I’m really not into camping, I consider comfort to either be inside a pub or inside a hotel, I’m not fussy which. But, the things I do for a little adventure in my life…..

  • Derbyshire – Castleton – Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn

    Derbyshire – Castleton – Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn

    This confused me a little, as a couple of miles down the road is the Good Beer Guide listed Cheshire Cheese Inn that I visited last year. This pub is in Castleton itself with the present building dating to 1660 and it has been an inn since the middle of the eighteenth century.

    There are six real ales available, but yet this pub doesn’t make it into the Good Beer Guide, which seems to be due to the high quality of other pubs in the region. Anyway, that’s a decent choice for a pub to have, although I personally thought that the balance of different beer types was slightly askew, but that might just be my own tastes.

    The service in the pub was friendly and warm, with a table being found for the four of us. There was compliance with Covid rules and the pub seemed clean and well organised. Table service is currently being offered and that worked out well, with no real wait. There was an offer for us to pay separately which went awry as the pub has a weird way of dealing with tax which the staff member couldn’t work out either, so we felt best just to pay as one round. Richard had some ridiculous double gin thing which was well over half the cost of the round, so my attempts to wean him onto beer seem to have taken a step back. But I didn’t say anything….

    The Barnsley Bitter from Acorn Brewery was better than I somehow expected, quite malty and having a decent flavour to it. The Brown Cow from Bradfield Brewery, which is relatively local as it’s from Sheffield, had the flavours of what I would call a drinkable session beer. Both beers tasted well kept and were at the appropriate temperature, all perfectly acceptable.

    I like this kind of signage, it suggests a friendly staff team and it’s informative and easy to read. Lovely last line as well of “come in and say hello, we’re ready to see and meet new faces” which is I think a well communicated welcome, I might try and use a similar version to that myself in the future.

    There were a couple of beers from Abbeydale on, which were Deception and Moonshine. I’ve only had the Daily Bread beer from them, which was the yeastiest beer I can remember having (to the point that I wasn’t entirely sure it was meant to taste like that as I’m not enough of a beer expert to know). Anyway, I’ll try some of their beers next time I’m back in the Peak District, although the Daily Bread beer has been stocked in the Plasterers in Norwich before.

    All told, I still wonder how near this inn must be to getting into the Good Beer Guide, as I thought it was catering to the needs of most real ale fans. Friendly, clean and welcoming, so all really rather lovely.

  • Swadlincote – Sir Nigel Gresley

    Swadlincote – Sir Nigel Gresley

    To provide a little context, we visited this pub in Swadlincote whilst on our sixth LDWA 100 training walk.

    This was the final pub of the day, the JD Wetherspoon operated outlet in Swadlincote, named after the famous railway engineer who lived nearby in Netherseal. It was a pub, albeit a bit run-down, before JD Wetherspoon took it over in 2001, previously known as the Granville Arms.

    I took this photo with the hope of identifying the real ale that I ordered, but I didn’t take it clearly enough and I’ve since forgotten. Anyway, I know that it tasted fine and seemed well-kept. Not that this information is of use to anyone, but it’s the best I’ve got here….

    The interior of the pub, quieter on a Saturday night that I had anticipated.

    The chicken vindaloo curry, which they clearly hadn’t sold out of on Thursday’s Curry Club, but it was £3.99 and tasted fine. It was probably just a bit too spicy a thing to order on a Saturday night, but it was hot and everything was cooked appropriately.

    And, I had a little at the pub reviews, which aren’t generally the best in the chain shall we say.

    “I have used the disabled toilet in the pub as I have a radar key. I find really helpful as you have room to move around and it’s private, or at least I thought it was. Someone tried to come in while I was inside and I carried on, but to my amazement and shock they managed to get in with their key.”

    I’m surprised that this doesn’t happen more often, but I’ve seen this a few times in different Wetherspoons. The staff often knock on the door, wait about two seconds and then open the door. It’s admittedly exciting drama, but not for the person inside the toilet….

    That’s about as notable as the reviews get, although more seem to complain about other customers than the actual pub itself. Anyway, this was a perfectly comfortable and welcoming pub, with it being rather handy that they were still serving food so late. And, other than the few miles walk back to the accommodation, it marked the end of what had been a long and exciting (well, what I call exciting) day….

  • Walton – Bailey Bridge

    Walton – Bailey Bridge

    To provide a little context, we walked over this bridge in Walton whilst on our sixth LDWA 100 training walk. It seemed a strange bridge to me, clearly something else had once been here and the current situation looked just a little temporary. The map above, which is from around 1900, shows where the bridge was and nothing much has changed with regards to its route.

    This is the bridge from the Staffordshire end, looking into Derbyshire and the village of Walton.

    And, this is from the Derbyshire end, looking into Staffordshire. The first bridge here wasn’t constructed until 1834, when it was a toll arrangement with a separate toll house, something which put paid to the ferry service which had operated from near here. This bridge served the needs of the locals sufficiently well, especially as it became free and the toll house was demolished in the early part of the twentieth century.

    The whole arrangement worked well until the floods of 1947, when the bridge was badly damaged and became unusable. The military came along to build a temporary bridge over the top, which in turn was replaced with another temporary bridge in 1974. To cut a long story short, that bridge is still there today despite many plans to replace it.

    It appears that there are a lot of breaches of the rules on weight restrictions (which is just three tonnes at any one time), which doesn’t bode well for the bridge, although it has remained standing for a long time so perhaps there’s no need for any immediate concern.

    There’s a pedestrian bridge alongside the main part of the structure. The plan is that if more housing is going to be built, then this bridge will need replacing in the near future, although whether or not the council ever gets round to that is another matter…..

  • Walton – Swan at Walton (White Swan)

    Walton – Swan at Walton (White Swan)

    To provide a little context, we visited this pub in Walton whilst on our sixth LDWA 100 training walk.

    The pub is operated as part of the small Chilled Pub Company estate, which seems to focus on providing a strong food offering. The pub has traditionally been known as the White Swan, but has recently been rebranded as the Swan at Walton. It first opened in the 1820s and it feels like the sort of pub which was targetted at the agricultural labourers of the period.

    We didn’t get to see much of the inside as we remained outside in the rear beer garden, which was our plan initially given the slightly muddy fields we had just traipsed across. Not that we would have had much choice, the pub was clearly popular and they were fully booked for the next 90 minutes inside, as we discovered when some other customers tried to get in.

    The staff here were welcoming and friendly, offering a prompt greeting at the door and explaining that there was table service. The beer selection was a little limited, so there was a choice of Fuller’s London Pride or Marston’s Pedigree. Despite the impressions above, we opted for the latter and it was well-kept and at the appropriate temperature and all that.

    Actually, on the beer selection, looking back on Untappd it’s clear that the pub can come up with some decent craft beers. Although on our visit, the only dark beer listed on their extensive on-line database was Guinness, which was disappointing given some of their marketing. But, perhaps things will improve when some form of normality returns.

    We did consider for a while waiting well over an hour as the food coming out, such as the pizzas, did look rather lovely. However, we were meant to be walking over 20 miles (which we did) and would have struggled to justify waiting around for that long. But, the food did look good and the reviews are positive. Well, mostly positive, but I quite liked this one:

    “They have a loyalty app where you can collect points. I sent a simple email to the pub asking how I transfer the sale from this night on to the points. 4 days later I get a reply from the manager giving great instructions but also telling me I have lots the points because they need to be actioned within 48hrs. So my response was I have lost them due to the delay in reply from the email. I then get an email from the owner Loren actually telling me she doesn’t pay her manager to sit answering emails. So you could imagine my reply why have an email system if no-one replies and why have a point system which has a time period of 48hrs. Loren then sent me an email that wasn’t meant for me but was about me basically this was to her manager ditching me..this was so unprofessional of an owner of at least 3 establishments in the area none of which I will ever attend again.”

    This does have a ring of truth about it, it’s a shame that the pub doesn’t reply to reviews as I would have quite liked the answer as to what happened here…. Anyway, I digress.

    The pub felt well-run and organised, customers seemed quite content and the beer was reasonably priced. One group of customers took a table outside (took as in sat down, they didn’t pinch it) which didn’t have a parasol arrangement, with the staff commenting they weren’t coming inside if it rained. The staff were being helpful, but I was amused by the image of this group just having to sit there in the rain.

  • Rosliston – St. Mary’s Church

    Rosliston – St. Mary’s Church

    St. Mary’s Church in Rosliston doesn’t look at first sight the sort of place where a huge controversy took place at the end of the nineteenth century, when the Bishop called his own vicar “cruel and wicked”.

    There has been a church here since either the late Saxon or early Norman period. The current structure partly dates to the fourteenth century, although it was restored in 1802 and the nave and chancel were then rebuilt in 1819 using some of the same materials. There was an advert in the Staffordshire Advertiser in early January 1820, which offered two pews, in the eastern corner of the church, for sale at auction which is a rather different situation to religious services today.

    Most of the tower, including the doorway and steeple, date to the fourteenth century.

    Unfortunately, the interior of the church was closed, although most of the contents appear to date from the late nineteenth century. It does feel peaceful today, but I can imagine the build-up of anger towards the rather wayward vicar which the parishioners once had to deal with.

  • Rosliston – The Strange Case of John Vallancy

    Rosliston – The Strange Case of John Vallancy

    It’s hard to find a history of St. Mary’s Church in Rosliston which doesn’t mention John Vallancy (1843-1906), the village’s vicar at the end of the nineteenth century.

    It was reported by the Reynolds’s Newspaper in July 1894 that:

    “The Rev. John Vallancy, the representative of Christ at Rosliston, near Burton, teaches us the meaning of Christianity as interpreted by the Church established by Parliament in that part of the kingdom called England. Miss Mary Wright and her father placed flowers on the grave of a relative, after being warned by the state-manufactured ‘reverend’ against this display of affection. The representative of Christ swept the tributes away from the grave and brought an action for trespass against the lady, claiming 1s 6d in the special ‘mansion’ in the Father’s House which will be allotted to the Rev ‘Vallancy’, he is likely to be the sole tenant. Boarders will not stay, and in vain will be exhibit a notice ‘apartments to let’”.

    This was a devastating attack on Vallancy, but matters were to get worse. The Derby Mercury reported on 13 May 1896:

    “At the Swadlincote Petty Sessions on Tuesday before Mr. L Barber and a full bench of magistrates John Holden, of Rosliston, appeared in answer to a summons taken out by the Rev. John Vallancy, perpetual curate of Rosliston, who complained that he was in bodily fear of the defendant, and asked that he should be bound over to keep the peace. Mr. Vallancy conducted his own case, and Mr. Capes represented the defendant.

    From the evidence, it appeared that on the 18th April the defendant went to the complainant’s house and asked Mr. Vallancy where the cross had gone that had been placed on his brother’s grave, and why it had been removed. Upon that the complainant ordered him off the premises, but defendant refused to go until he got the information required.

    Complainant said that the defendant threatened to “do” for him, that he had “one wing broken” and that he would break the other. He also stated that the defendant threatened to strike him with a stick which he carried. Mr. Vallancy called four witnesses, whose evidence was most contradictory when under cross-examination.

    Mr. Capes submitted that there was no case for him to answer, but the Bench decided that he must proceed. Mr. Capes then addressed the Court, and called a witness and the defendant himself, who denied either threatening the complainant or using bad language.

    The Bench retired, and after a brief absence, Mr. Barber said they had come to the conclusion that the case must be dismissed for they did not think Mr. Vallancy was in need of any protection.”

    The church authorities had to act as allegations against Vallancy started to pour in and the Bishop of Southwell summoned Vallancy to the consistory (or church) courts in April 1897. The vicar had been accused of holding a revolver in the air against a parishioner, which he denied and said “it was a large church key”. Some parishioners responded by burning an effigy of their vicar outside the church, which isn’t really an ideal state of affairs.

    Vallancy had been so incompetent in role that he was starting to threaten the church’s reputation in the region, with the Bishop noting that:

    “He has been cruel and wicked, utterly unworthy of his position and fatal to any usefulness in the parish of which he was at the present moment the incumbent”.

    There’s no easy way of coming back from that allegation from the local Bishop and Vallancy was suspended from his position for eighteenth months. Vallancy was fortunate that the tabloids didn’t exist then in the same way that they do today, he would have found himself getting international attention.

  • Rosliston – Bull’s Head

    Rosliston – Bull’s Head

    To provide a little context, we visited this pub in Rosliston whilst on our sixth LDWA 100 training walk.

    We didn’t want to look eager, but we had arrived in the village before the pub opened and we faffed about a bit, so were pleased that they opened on time. The pub is operating on slightly reduced opening hours at the moment (late August 2020), 14.00 until 23.00 on Mondays to Thursdays and 12.00 until 23.00 on Fridays to Sundays.

    There were two real ales available, Pedigree from Marston’s and Bass from, well, Bass. For a country pub, especially given the current crisis, this was an entirely suitable proposition for us. For those who prefer ciders, they had Happy Daze and Yuzu Marmalade on, along with some lager things.

    The Pedigree. The pint wasn’t served like this, I just liked the glass and only realised that after drinking some of the beer….. It was at the appropriate temperature and tasted well-kept. We seemed to be the first customers of the day and there’s always a danger that a pub won’t have pulled through the beers, but they had here.

    One side of the pub, which might not be exactly on-trend, but it looks warm and comfortable. It was notable that they hadn’t had to nail (or glue) all of the items on display down, which says something positive about the pub. Well, it also says something about a number of the pubs that I go to as well…..

    And the other side…. There’s a real fire on each side of the pub, which must make it a homely place during the colder months of the year.

    This is a free house and they look like they try to please as much of the local community as they can, with darts, pool (currently suspended), food, entertainment and a range of drinks. The service was friendly and this felt a welcoming place to be, with the pub being clean and organised. The pub does probably need to bring its web-site back on-line, although their Facebook presence has been kept updated.

    So, as country pubs go, this was a convenient mid-day stop for us and it’s worth a little trip for anyone visiting the nearby Rosliston Forestry Centre. Or indeed, anyone walking along the National Forest Way, as this goes by the front of the pub.