Short, sharp, rain showers were forecast for the day, so we arrived at the church gates on a wet afternoon and left with some trepidation. However, once we started the walk, in Clowne, we were blessed with a dry, cloudy day.
We walked past Old School Taphouse, previously Steve’s infant school.
We noticed a well-maintained churchyard at St. John the Baptist Church and on a road named ‘Northfields’ saw a sign stating “Best Christmas Lights 1998”. The residents provided imaginative displays in their front gardens with collection boxes for donations to children’s charities which brought in many visitors from far and wide and generated, over the years, a total of £81.000. In 2009, according to the Mail, vandals destroyed the lights and stole the money collected at that time. As we walked past, there was no sign of any outside Christmas decorations.
Further into our walk I was followed by Norris, a short, dark- haired fella, who was determined to stalk me. I had to lag behind our group in order to let the dog’s owner catch him.
Later, we had a clear view of the Steetley chimney and Steve pointed out that on a clear day we would be able to see over to the cooling towers at the power stations on the Trent.
Our walk continued into the village of Elmton and we passed a cast iron water pump and an old well,
where Well Dressings are held each year at the end of July.
St. Peter’s Church is Grade II listed and houses a Brindley organ. Charles Brindley was born in Baslow in the early 1830’s and established his business in 1854. Seventeen years later he formed a partnership with Albert Healey Foster. The business was bought by Henry Willis and Sons in 1939.
A portrait of Jedidiah Buxton, 1707-1772, farm labourer and a self-taught arithmetical genius hangs inside the church. He was a life-long resident of Elmton. A blue plaque is located at the church gate.
Eventually, we walked into Creswell, a former mining village. The name “Creswell” arose because the colliery company needed an address for deliveries during construction. The nearest farm was Creswell Farm, so all deliveries arrived with ‘Creswell’s’ written on them and the name stuck.
For the final part of the walk, Steve led us up 35 steps and onto a wide track, the disused railway line back to Clowne, that seemed to stretch forever into the distance. This seemed to be a popular place for dog walkers as we saw many different breeds of dogs and strangely most owners had two or more dogs. Give me cats any day!
For our next 5 mile walk we will meet at 12noon outside church on Sunday 5th February. Anyone wishing to join us will be made very welcome.
Evelyn Lowe