Wensley Road in Winster

 

The Market Hall in Winster

After a period of inactivity following my day out to Headingley, which was quite unusual for me during the summer months, I set out 4 weeks later to Winster, which I had passed through on the No. 172 bus from Darley Dale when exploring Rowtor Rocks, Birchover, Stanton Moor and Stanton-in-Peak in May 2024 and was quite struck by the architecture on Main Street. 

 

A Google Map view showing the main roads from Treeton to Winster

The 53 buildings that appeared on my Photo Challenge are set in an area that measures no more than 400 m by 400 m and, having ‘walked’ around Winster using Google Street View and worked out the logistics involved in the bus travel, I planned to arrive at 13:08 pm. On my return journey, I would then catch either the 15:28 pm bus to Darley Dale and take one of the Sixes or Transpeak services – or return directly to Bakewell on the No.172 service at 16:13.

 

My Photo Challenge for Winster

Arriving in Winster on time, I was surprised to discover that the Main Street was full of people and traffic, which I soon learned was because the very popular annual Winster Secret Gardens event was taking place over the weekend. 

 

The Old Forge

 

The first building on my list was the Old Forge on Wensley Road, a C18 double fronted cottage that has Carboniferous limestone rubble walling, reddened gritstone from the Ashover Grit for the dressings and a Welsh slate roof – materials that are also used for the adjoining late C18 three-storey Vernon House, which was not part of my Photo Challenge. 

 

Vernon House

 

When living in Bakewell and undertaking a survey of the RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) in the Peak District National Park, I travelled widely across Derbyshire but I didn’t visit Winster and wasn’t aware of its lead mining industry, which exploited the many lead rakes that exist in this part of the county. 

 

The British Geological Survey map of the area around Winster

 

The lead mining industry in Winster, which may date back to Roman times, reached its peak in the mid C18 but most of the lead mines had closed by the end of the century, by which time the population had trebled. Winster had become very prosperous and one of the largest towns in Derbyshire, but flooding in the mines became a problem as the workings went deeper and most of them had closed by the C19. 

 

Lansdowne House and Georgic House

 

Lansdowne House and Georgic House on the opposite side of the road provide evidence of the prosperity during the mid C18, with the buff/red gritstone ashlar, Venetian windows and Doric columns and entablatures to the doorways reflecting the social status of the owners. 

 

Archway House

Historic England describe the adjacent Archway House (1754) as being built of coarse squared gritstone and the stone for the walling and dressings is predominantly buff coloured. The quarries at Darley Dale and Stanton Moor produce stone of this colour, although the latter does produce mottled buff/red sandstone and at the Birchover and Wattscliffe quarries, which are less than 2.5 km away as the crow flies, reddening is predominant. 

 

 Quarries marked on the Building Stones Database for England map explorer

 

A little further along Wensley Road, Dale Cottage and Tite Cottage are a couple of mid C18 semi-detached cottages, which are built with Carboniferous limestone walling, which varies from a light grey to light yellow/brown colour, with red massive gritstone dressings and Welsh slate roofs. 

 

Dale Cottage

 

The British Geological Survey map shows that Winster is set on the junction of the Lower Carboniferous Widmerpool Formation and the Edale Limestone Formation, which along with the underlying Monsal Dale Limestone Formation, was dolomitized at the end of the Upper Carboniferous subperiod but, except for a couple of lime kilns marked on the 1851 Ordnance Survey map, I can’t see any quarries where the limestone may have come from. 

 

Tite Cottage

On the opposite of the road is another pair of late C18 cottages, now named Carpenters Cottage, which provides a further example of Carboniferous limestone rubble walling, red gritstone dressings and a Welsh slate roof, but only listed for its group value, and a little further along the south side of Wensley Road is Roselea Cottage, which is built with similar materials. 

 

Carpenters Cottage and Roselea Cottage

Next to Roselea Cottage is the Grade II* Listed Market Hall, which is owned by the National Trust and was originally built in the C16 with later remodelling during the C18. The ground floor has five broad arches in a red gritstone wall that have been mostly infilled and, quite unusually for the Peak District, the upper level is built with red brick.

 

The Market Hall