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| In Pilsley |
Following the recce undertaken in Cressbrook Dale, which covered only part of the route, it was clear that the planned field trip would not take place on the following Wednesday but, to ensure that the Sheffield U3A Geology Group had a day out, I arranged to lead us around Nether Edge and Sheffield Botanical Gardens, which was meant to take place after a visit to Sheffield General Cemetery in November 2023, but was cut short due to the cold weather.
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| The Photo Challenge for Pilsley |
As it happened, the wet weather continued and our March 2024 field was cancelled but, taking advantage of a respite, I set off to Pilsley in Derbyshire on the Saturday, with the intention of completing another British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge.
Setting off from Sheffield at 10:10 am on a bright morning, sitting as usual at the front of the top deck, the No. 218 bus snaked its way through the outskirts of Sheffield and I just read my book until it got to Owler Bar – after an ascent from 60 m to 310 m above sea level.
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| The bus stop at Pilsley |
From this point, the A621 road descends across the moors down to a distinct valley that has been cut through the escarpment of the Chatsworth Grit, which normally provides spectacular views of the Derwent Valley below. On this occasion, the valley was shrouded in thick mist, which prompted a rush by several Chinese students to take photographs with their mobile phones and, by the time I arrived in Pilsley at 11:13 am, the mist showed no sign of lifting.
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| Pilsley House |
The first building on my list, the Italianate style Pilsley House (c.1840), was barely visible behind a tall beech hedge, with Top House (c.1838-1840) on the opposite side of the road being more clearly seen, although it was partially scaffolded at the time of my visit.
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| Top House |
The blue painted woodwork of Top House immediately identifies it as being part of the Chatsworth Estate, with the overhanging Welsh slate roof with decorative wooden barge boards and the paired diamond ashlar gable chimney stacks, especially, giving it a distinctive appearance.
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| A view of the rear of Pilsley House |
Along with Pilsley House, Historic England state that this was probably designed by Joseph Paxton, whose similar work of the same approximate date can be seen at Edensor, Beeley Lodge, Ashford-in-the-Water and Rowsley.
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| The planned walk for my Photo Challenge in Pilsley |
When planning my trip to Pilsley, using Google Map I had calculated that to photograph the 12 listed buildings in the village, I would cover a distance of no more than 800 metres when starting and finishing at the bus stop. Even taking into account my further exploration of the historic architecture in the village, it seemed quite likely that the sun wouldn’t come out before I had finished, so I decided to pass time by having a quick look at the Chatsworth Farm Shop.
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| Chatsworth Farm Shop |
The building first appears on the 1923 edition of the Ordnance Survey map, when it is marked as a Stud Farm, but I didn’t spend any time looking at it and instead had a quick wander around the interior to see what products were sold here.
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| Products on sale at Chatsworth Farm Shop |
Returning to the B6408 road, the thick mist showed no signs of clearing and I resigned myself that my set of photos for the day were going to be taken in conditions that were far from ideal. Continuing with my Photo Challenge, the next building was the Pilsley Church of England School (1849), which was designed by Paxton for William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire.
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| Pilsley Church of England School |
Returning to Top House, I had a close look at the stone used in its construction. Pilsley is located on the Ashover Grit, which was widely quarried along the Derwent Valley for top quality building stone and it was therefore no surprise to find massive coarse grained gritstone, containing small pebbles, used for quoins and dressings.
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| Ashovcer Grit quoins at Top House |
The walling stone, however, is more thinly bedded and contains Liesegang rings, which is not typical of the sandstone seen in the vernacular architecture in the area but was presumably obtained from less massive beds in the quarry that supplied the stone.
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| A quoin and walling stone at Top House |
I then set off to continue my Photo Challenge, but immdiately got talking to a couple who were staying at the Chatsworth Park Caravan Club, one of whom once processed data at the British Geological Survey. During a good talk between like minded people, which lasted for an hour, we all enthused about visiting the Peak District National Park and the Chatsworth Estate.
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| Views of various buildings in Pilsley after the mist had risen |
With the conversation including a discussion of radon, which I was very surprised to learn was a potential problem in Kimberley in Nottinghamshire, which I had once visited as a geology student at Nottingham University, when on a tour of the Hardy and Hanson brewery. With the sun finally coming out at last, we bode our farewells and not having travelled far from my starting point, I took more photos of Paxton’s houses and the school before continuing my walk.
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| A view of houses in Pilsley from the B6048 |
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