Baslow and Chatsworth Park Revisited

A Chinook helicopter flying over Chatsworth Park

When undertaking an investigation of St. Anne’s church in Baslow, it took two visits before I felt that I had enough photos and information for my purposes and, with the sun continuing to shine during my second trip, I decided to go and have a quick look at the area of Nether End on the other side of the village.

The Chatsworth Hotel

Walking east along Cock Hill, the Grade II Listed Chatsworth Hotel was the first building of any interest that I encountered, which goes back to the early C18 but has been extended more than once at different times. Built in squared gritstone blocks from the Ashover Grit, the yellowish quoins are noticeably different to the walling and much more even in colour.

Thatched Cottage

Arriving at Church Lane, where I would catch the next 218 bus back to Sheffield, I then went down to have a look at Bar Brook, where there is another C18 road bridge – the Barbrook Old Bridge – that leads to the C17 Thatched Cottage. Thatched roofs are very unusual in this part of England and are typically found in places like East Anglia, where stone tiles, slate or clay tiles are not readily available.

Barbrook Old Bridge

After taking photographs of this cottage and obtaining a distant view of the bridge, I had a change of plan and, taking advantage of the continuing warm and sunny weather that we were experiencing in March, I decided to walk down to Chatsworth House though a part of Chatsworth Park that I had never explored before, and then catch a bus back to Sheffield.

The Chatsworth Grit escarpment on the east side of Chatsworth Park

Here, the River Derwent has cut through the Ashover Grit to form a broad valley covered in alluvium, with Chatsworth House set above the old river terraces on its eastern side, with an escarpment formed by the coarse grained Chatsworth Grit rising above it.

High ground formed by the Ashover Grit to the west of Chatsworth Park

The wooded lower slopes beneath the escarpment are formed by a thick layer of head, a poorly stratified sediment comprising a mixture of angular blocks that has formed by solifluction. This is a typical feature of the landscape between the River Derwent and the Millstone Grit Edges, which forms the eastern boundary of the Peak District National Park.

The River Derwent in Chatsworth Park

Walking along by the river, the easterly dipping Ashover Grit forms irregular ground that stands above the softer siltstone and mudstone of the Marsden Formation, which is interleaved with the Ashover Grit and the younger Chatsworth Grit.

A general view of Chatsworth House

During my previous to visit to Chatsworth Park in September 2019, I had approached it from Edensor to the west. On this occasion, I was able to get some good views of Chatsworth House from the north, as well as being able to close enough to the Hunting Tower, built by Bess of Hardwick c.1582, to zoom in with my camera.

The Hunting Tower in Chatsworth Park