The village of Winster lies within the Peak District National Park and was formerly a centre for the lead mining industry. Winster Market House is a prominent, listed building jutting into the main road of the village and acquired by the National Trust in 1906. Winster was mentioned in the Doomsday Book in 1086 when it was owned by Henry de Ferrers. The parish church of St. John the Baptist, holds a week-long carnival, Winster Wakes, which starts on the first Sunday on or after 24th June (the patronal day of St. John the Baptist).
Reader, you may be interested in the following……
As reported in The Times (London) on 2 June 1821, a local surgeon, William Cuddie, was courting Mary, the daughter of the wealthy Brittlebank family of Oddo House in Winster. In May 1821, one of her brothers, William, tried to end their association. On the evening of 21 May, Cuddie and Brittlebank quarrelled. The doctor later received a note.
“Sir, I expect satisfaction for the insult you dared to offer me at a time when you knew that my situation with a helpless Woman prevented my chastising you. Name your time and place, the bearer will wait for an answer. Yours William Brittlebank, Junior. I shall be attended by a friend and prepared with pistols, and if you don’t meet I shall post you as a coward.”
Cuddie refused to reply to the letter. The following afternoon three of the Brittlebank brothers and a mutual friend, Edmund Spencer, arrived in his garden at Bank House with two loaded pistols. Cuddie reluctantly accepted one of the weapons. Two shots were heard but only Cuddie was hit. He died a few hours later. Two of the brothers were tried in Derby in August 1821, but found not guilty of murder. Their brother, William, fled with a £100 reward on his head. It is thought that he fled to Australia, but there is no evidence for that. (Obtained from Wikipedia)
To return to the walk….
We began by walking on a grassy path – the Limestone Way with fields on each side of us, sheep and lambs bleating in one field, and the other was a meadow of yellow buttercups stretching into the distance. In the hedgerows were many wild flowers, cow parsley, birds’ foot trefoil, ferns and clover
reaching up to the top of the dry stone wall. To the left, we had wonderful panoramic views of a patchwork of fields in different shades of green, neatly
divided by darker coloured hedges. We noted the village of Winster way below us, and at the skyline, a hazy sun was trying to burn its way out of the cloud. It didn’t manage to do this, and soon it started to rain.
The recent blossom of the hawthorn was completely dried up and hanging in brown clumps and a bank of blackberry bushes nearby were coming into flower, with the promise of plenty of fruit later on in the year. A flock of sheep ran away from us as we entered their field before we turned into a meadow completely covered in buttercups, clover, white ox-eye daisies, and red-tipped grasses. To top it all, a singing skylark rose in front of us, soaring into the sky.
On a tarmacked road, we turned right at a public footpath sign stating Bonsall 1 ¼ miles ahead. We were surrounded by more wildflower meadows before walking onto a stony path, Blakelow Lane, when the cool wind met us. We needed to watch where we were walking as the ground changed to gravel and big boulders. We found some big rocks to sit on as we ate our snacks in the rain. There was a cold wind as we continued our walk on a steadily rising path towards the skyline, passing Bonsall Nature Reserve and with rain splattering into a large puddle, we turned right onto a footpath, still confronted by wonderful views.
At some point on this walk, we passed Bank House, not knowing the history of the place, if indeed it was the correct spot where the duel took place.
Silence was broken by a helicopter above us, and suddenly we spotted a hare chasing across the field. Another hare was seen s we approached the last stile and stepped onto a tarmacked road, and the rain stopped at last. We turned right onto the Bakewell B5056 road, and Steve pointed out a Lead Ore House,
a secure storage facility used by miners to “bank” and store their freshly mined lead ore before it was officially weighed, taxed or sold. Moments later, we were back in the village and into the cars.
The July walk will take place on Sunday, 5th, when we will meet at the church gates at 4pm. Anyone is welcome to join us.
Evelyn Lowe