ROSLISTON TO ROYSTONE GRANGE
A TO Z – DERBYSHIRE AND THE PEAK DISTRICT – CHAPTER 41
ROSLISTON (4 miles south of Burton – SK244153)
Rosliston is a well-maintained village, which in 2013 celebrated winning six prestigious awards at the East Midlands in Bloom awards ceremony. The village has been winning awards at this event for many years. St Mary’s Church was largely rebuilt and extended in 1819, but the west tower and spire were preserved. In the 19th century, when the Reverend John Vallancy was the vicar, he was said to sometimes threaten his parishioners with a stick. On one occasion, he went even further and produced a revolver and made menacing gestures. After villagers made an effigy of him, which was hung outside the vicarage and burnt, he was banished from the parish for 18 months by his Bishop.
ROSLISTON FORESTRY CENTRE (3.75 miles south of Burton, north of Rosliston village – SK245176)
There is a gift shop, café/restaurant, cycle hire centre and fishing points. Additionally, there are educational facilities, an archery range, and the woodland Rosliston Forestry Centre, which features woodland walks, as well as indoor and outdoor play areas. This popular place to visit is suitable for people of all ages. Games and numerous events are arranged at busy times. If you wish to stay longer, you can opt for a self-catering lodge.
ROSTON (6 miles south of Ashbourne, near Rocester – SK132410)
A quiet village tucked away in beautiful countryside close to the River Dove. An area once strong in non-conformism with two chapels, but both are now put to other uses. Roston Common, a short distance to the east of the village, is where George Eliot’s father, Robert Evans, was born. George Eliot was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. It was common in those days for females to use male names. She wrote seven novels, including Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), and Silas Marner (1861). The Roston Inn, commonly known locally as ‘The Shant’, is a popular local amenity. Roston Airfield was made available to the RAF as a landing ground during the First World War.
ROWARTH (2.5 miles north of New Mills – SK013893)
Rowarth is a delightful, sleepy little village in attractive moorland countryside. However, in the late 1700s, when water power gained prominence for driving mill wheels, it was a bustling place with several mills. The bubble burst with the arrival of steam power, and the village reverted to a quiet, peaceful place again. The Little Mill, a former candlewick mill, is now a public house nestled at the bottom of the valley and still features its original waterwheel and stream.
ROWSLEY (on the A6 between Matlock and Bakewell – SK257659)
The village of Rowsley stands at the junction of two valleys of the Rivers Derwent and Wye, with wooded hills on either side. It was the beauty of its setting in the 19th century which attracted artists, poets and anglers. There are two Rowsleys, not surprisingly called Great and Little. But, perhaps more unexpectedly, it is the latter that has the larger population. Little Rowsley, on the eastern side of the River Derwent, was in the Bakewell Rural District Council, and Greater Rowsley, on the other side, was in the Darley and Matlock Urban District Council. Now they are united as one parish in Derbyshire Dales. Greater Rowsley is much the older part of the village and has several handsome buildings. The arrival of the railway in 1849 brought about the development of Little Rowsley.
Almost certainly the best-known building in the village is the Peacock Hotel, with a stone peacock sitting above the door. It was built in 1652, in Jacobean style, by John Stevenson of Elton, agent to the Manners Family, as a gentleman’s residence. It later served as a farmhouse before becoming a hotel. It has housed many famous residents, including Royalty. The Peak Well, opposite the hotel, is the site of the main well-dressing during the village festival, which takes place on the last weekend of June each year.
ROWSLEY – CAUDWELL’S MILL
A mill has stood in Rowsley since at least the 16th century. The latest, Caudwell’s Mill, was founded in 1874 and continued to operate for 104 years. When it closed, a group of enthusiasts got together to save what was the only complete Victorian water turbine-powered roller mill in the country. They had a fight on their hands, as the Miller’s Manual Association stipulates that milling machinery no longer needed must be destroyed to prevent reuse. After numerous persuasive talks, an agreement was reached to waive the ancient right and allow a small amount of flour to be produced, with the mill used for exhibition purposes. Flour is no longer milled on the premises. Several artisans have workshops on the site.
ROWTHORNE (from J29 of the M1, take the A617 to Glapwell; Rowthorne is on a minor road to the south – SK479650)
A tiny village composed of a few attractive cottages, a hall and a farm. It is one mile east of the even smaller village of Ault Hucknall, with which it shares a church. The hall, built of local stone, is ‘L-shaped,’ having been built at different periods in time.
Many walkers visit the village to explore the Rowthorne Trail, part of the Phoenix Greenways, a network of trails that run throughout Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The trails have been reclaimed from what were once railway lines that served the mining industry.
ROWTOR ROCKS (at Birchover, off the B5056 between A515 and A6 – SK257659)
On the corner, at the bottom of Birchover’s main street, stands The Druid Inn. According to the legend, the Inn takes its name from the Druids, who were said to have practised their rites on Rowtor Rocks nearby. However, the only connection with the Druids appears to be that the Inn was the meeting place of the Ancient Order of Druids, a friendly society founded in 1781.
The rocks fascinated the Reverend Thomas Eyre, who carved seats so he and his friends could sit and enjoy the view. He also built a little chapel below the rocks and, according to tradition, sat in his seat on the rocks while composing his services. Until 1799, a large 50-ton Rocking Stone stood at the eastern end of Rowtor Rocks, which could be moved by hand when a gang of 14 young people pushed the stone off its pivot. The stone was replaced, but the original balance never returned.
ROYSTONE GRANGE (off the A5012, Cromford to Newhaven Road, car park, just off the Parwich Road – SK200568)
During Roman times, a small native settlement existed near the present-day Roystone Grange Farm. It may have started as just one farmstead before further development took place. A dig by Sheffield University revealed that the dry valley had been in continuous use since Roman times, with some of the dry-stone walls still in use today laid by the Romans. The foundations of medieval Roystone Grange were also discovered.
Roystone Grange was a monastic sheep farm established by the Cistercian Abbey of Garendon in Leicestershire in the 12th century. The abbey ceased farming around the late 14th century, and it was subsequently leased to tenants. Today, turf-covered walls are all that survive. The chapel-like structure nearby was built in the 19th century as a pump house. Where a large water-cooled engine pumped compressed air through cast iron pipes to drive the drills of the rock quarries in the valley. Two brick kilns can still be seen by the side of the former railway line by which the finished bricks were transported.
