Cressbrook

Cressbrook Dale (also called Ravensdale) is a dry carboniferous limestone gorge near Bakewell, Derbyshire, in the Peak District of England. The dale is cut into a plateau of farmland and lies to the south east of the village of Litton. Cressbrook village is at the foot of the valley to the south.The valley is dry over the summer but has a winterbourne stream which runs into the mill pond at Cressbrook Mill and then into the River Wye in Water-cum-Jolly Dale.

Litton Mill is a textile mill at Millers Dale, near Tideswell in Derbyshire. The original 19th-century mill became notorious during the Industrial Revolution for its unsavoury employment practices, luridly described by the commentators of the day, and the testimony of Robert Blincoe, a parish apprentice who had been indentured to work at the mill. It was set up in 1782 by Ellis Needham and Thomas Frith, both farmers with small estates in the area. The mill was powered by the water of the River Wye, using Richard Arkwright's water frame. It could be said that the company was doomed from the start. Needham, in particular, had sunk most of his assets into the venture. The valley was particularly isolated and transport for the raw material and finished goods was poor. Moreover, they had difficulty in attracting a workforce. The early spinners, such as Arkwright and Strutt, had been able to attract the families of weavers and framework knitters, so-called "free labour" meaning the employees were not indentured. Meanwhile, Evans at Darley Abbey could draw on a pool of labour from the town of Derby. In contrast, the area around Litton was sparsely populated by farming people who were scornful of the new cotton industry. By 1786 the, barely profitable, mill was put up for sale. There were no buyers and Needham and Frith struggled on. Needham's money had gone and he was farming on rented land, while Frith left the partnership in 1799. The Poor Relief Act 1601 had, among its provisions "the putting out of children to be apprentices". An agreement was made between the churchwarden and an employer, by means of an indenture sworn before a Justice of the Peace, that the latter would provide for and give employment and training to a pauper child. Often this worked for the benefit of the child but often it was seen by employers as a source of cheap labour and a way for a parish to relieve itself of responsibility. In the absence of any local labour, this was the course taken by Needham and Frith. In the early 19th century there was a general depression in the industry, and the workforce was reduced by a half. There was a serious fire, and in 1811 the waterwheel broke and was out of action for a month. By 1815, Needham was bankrupt and had been given notice to quit. By 1828 he was a pauper. Frith fared somewhat better on his farm, and operating a small spinning mill near Tideswell. The mill was operated for a time by the Newtons of Cressbrook Mill but was destroyed by another fire in 1874. Very little remains of the original mill. Its replacement manufactures nylon yarn for hosiery. In 1893 Mr Matthew Dickie, a former Stockport mill owner, bought Litton Mill. Dickie began his business career as a spinner and manufacturer with his father Matthew Dickie Senior. When he took over Litton Mill he brought with him several families from Stockport. He set up a Litton & Cressbrook Mills Company and Cressbrook Mill was taken over. To bring the two mills into closer touch, a road was made along the river by the Company and a toll in aid of local hospitals was charged for visitors who wished to use the road. This shortened the distance to Monsal Dale. Litton Mill was sold to a syndicate in 1934. Matthew Dickie had Ravenstor built in Miller's Dale as his family residence which was given to the National Trust in 1937 by Alderman J.G.Graves of Sheffield along with 64 acres (260,000 m2) of land, which included a one-mile (1.6 km) stretch of the River Wye and Tideswell Dale, all of which are leased to the Youth Hostel Association and open all year round.

Monsal Dale railway station was opened in 1866 by the Midland Railway on its line from Rowsley, extending the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway.

Monsal Dale is a valley in Derbyshire, England, in the White Peak limestone area of the Peak District National Park. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) (1) and part of a Europe-wide network called Natura 2000.

The Monsal Trail is a cycling, horse riding and walking trail in the Derbyshire Peak District. It was constructed from a section of the former Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway, which was built by the Midland Railway in 1863 to link Manchester with London and closed in 1968. The Monsal Trail is about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) long and opened in 1981. It starts at the Topley Pike junction in Wye Dale, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Buxton, and runs to Coombs Viaduct, 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of Bakewell. It follows the valley of the River Wye. The trail passes through Blackwell Mill, Chee Dale, Millers Dale, Cressbrook, Monsal Dale, Great Longstone, Hassop and Bakewell. The trail has numerous landmarks including Headstone Viaduct, Cressbrook Mill, Litton Mill and Hassop railway station, and passes through six tunnels. It is a major part of the as yet incomplete White Peak Loop and is designated as National Cycle Route 680.

Litton is a village and civil parish in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 675 (including Cressbrook (within the parish) and the separate parish of Little Longstone). It is one mile from Tideswell and six miles from Bakewell.The village has a primary school, a public house (the Red Lion) and a post office run by a co-operative of villagers. There are two churches, one at the east end of the village, and Christ Church at the west, on the outskirts of the village on the road to Tideswell. Litton has a well dressing each summer. The display is set on a base of moist clay and the patterns formed from petals, seeds, mosses and lichens.

Brushfield is a hamlet and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, in the Peak District National Park. It is about 8 miles east of Buxton. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 13. In 2007 it had just three houses. Several holiday lets are run by two separate families. One of these cottages is called the 'Old School House', a small one-bed house of stone. There are three scheduled monuments in the parish: bowl barrows at Brushfield Hough and Putwell Hill and High Field hlæw, a rare pre-Christian burial monument dating from around 600AD.

Fin Cop is a hill and an associated Iron Age hill fort in Monsal Dale, close to Ashford in the Water in Derbyshire, England.The fort shows evidence of hurried construction, indicating a defensive response to a real threat, rather than the more usual assumption that such forts were a display of status and prestige. The hillfort, along with an adjacent bowl barrow, lime kiln and quarry, constitutes a Scheduled Ancient Monument. In 2011 excavations unearthed a mass burial containing only women and children, the first such segregated burial in Iron Age Britain. Some animal bones were also found, suggesting the inhabitants kept livestock. The remains were relatively well preserved due to the limestone geology of the hill. Carbon dating of the site suggests it was constructed between 440BC and 390BC.

Wardlow is a parish and linear village in the Derbyshire Dales two miles from Tideswell, Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 118. The village contains the church of the Good Shepherd and the small hamlet of Wardlow Mires, which contains a notable pub, The Three Stags' Heads.

Hubble is a short 10-metre (33 ft) bolted sport climb at the limestone crag of Raven Tor in Miller's Dale, in the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. When Hubble was first redpointed by English climber Ben Moon on 14 June 1990, it became the first-ever climb in the world to have a consensus climbing grade of 8c+ (5.14c); and the highest grade in the English system at E9 7b.

The Three Stags' Heads is a Grade II listed public house in Wardlow Mires, Derbyshire, England.On the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, it was built in the mid–late 18th century, with 19th- and 20th-century alterations and additions.The Three Stags' Heads is referenced as an inspiration for the short story Black Dog by Neil Gaiman.

Tideswell is a village, civil parish, and ward in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England. It lies 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Buxton on the B6049, in a wide valley on a limestone plateau, at an altitude of 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, and is within the District of Derbyshire Dales. The population (including Wheston) was 1,820 in 2001, increasing slightly to 1,827 at the 2011 Census, making it the second-largest settlement within the National Park, after Bakewell. Tideswell Dale is a short limestone valley leading south from the village to the River Wye valley.