WETTON
PLAN YOUR DAY OUT
Location: Wetton is off the Ilam to Alstonefield Road (SK108555). Grindon is off the Bottom House to Warslow Road (SK085545).
Visit: Thor’s Cave; take care on the short, steep walk from the village. The Cave rises 350 feet above the Manifold Valley and has an imposing 60-foot entrance, but the Cave inside is comparatively small. The views are spectacular.
Refreshments: The Royal Oak, situated in the heart of Wetton village, is a cosy 400-year-old pub. The website is www.royaloakwetton.co.uk. The Old School Tearoom, Wetton: Wetton Mill Tearooms are situated midway along the Manifold Valley. Check all opening times before visiting.
Walk: The Manifold Valley has some of the most spectacular scenery in the Peak District and is rich with wildflowers, butterflies, and birds.
Special Places of Interest in the Locality: Manifold Valley Visitor Centre, housed in the old Hulme End Station, where information displays outline the history of the railway, the industries and the local community. Milldale is a delightfully positioned hamlet at the northern end of Dovedale. It attracts walkers like few other places of its size in Britain – Ilam with its Alpine-style cottages, a Tudor Gothic Hall, an eccentric river, and an excellent background of soft green hills.
INTRODUCTION
Wetton is a compact little village of limestone cottages, the gardens a riot of colour in the summer. It is in an exposed position against the cold at an altitude of about 1,000 feet, and the little cottages seem to huddle together for protection. Winters are now much milder, but some of the older residents still recall the times the village has been cut off from the outside world.
Until 1947, Wetton was an estate village belonging to the Duke of Devonshire. Faced with crippling death duties, he sold the land and offered the sitting tenants the opportunity to buy. The Chatsworth Holiday Cottages in the village are just one reminder of the Devonshire’s involvement with Wetton.
Wetton is a very active village, and recent projects include the restoration of two wells, the erection of an information board and the provision of a seat for rest and reflection. Another project completed a short time ago at St Margaret’s Church resulted in the bells ringing again, having not been heard within living memory. The five existing bells were recast at the beginning of this century, and a sixth was added in 2001. Surprisingly, all are from different centuries.
Many of the properties in the village date back two or three hundred years; the Manor Farm House is 16th century, and Hallows Grange is dated 1675. Falling numbers led to the closure of the school, which has been converted into the Village Hall and houses a popular tea room. The former village hall was of corrugated iron construction and stood by the road to Wetton Mill, but it became unusable in the 1960s. The Methodist Chapel is now a private residence.
OLD POLICE STATION HOUSE
Stocks are on display in the garden of the Old Police Station House, perhaps a reminder to visitors to be on their best behaviour! Staffordshire Police rented the property in 1876 from the Duke of Devonshire for use as a police station. The cell was added in 1889, but the station closed in 1941 and is now in private ownership. According to the charge book, which is held at the Staffordshire Records Office, 28 individuals were detained overnight during the period from 1890 to 1941.
WORLD TOE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP
In 1993, the first World Toe Wrestling Championship was introduced in the village. It generated a lot of interest both locally and nationally. During the years it operated at Wetton, a lot of money was raised for charity, and the pumps at the Royal Oak were busy. The event was then moved to a pub at Fenny Bentley for a few years before returning to its original home. It returned to The Bentley Brook Inn at Fenny Bentley in 2025.
ST MARGARET’S CHURCH
During restoration work on the leaded roof of the ancient tower at St Margaret’s Church at Wetton, 219 footprints and hand impressions were discovered in the existing lead work. They covered a period from 1781 to 1913 and have been surveyed and preserved. It shows that graffiti is not a new phenomenon.
In the graveyard is the last resting place of Samuel Carrington. He was the village schoolmaster for 50 years but is better known as a nationally recognised archaeologist. Together with Thomas Bateman of Middleton-by-Youlgreave, he excavated sizeable Romano-British settlements at Borough Fields and Long Low. Half a mile southwest at Thor’s Cave, overlooking the Manifold Valley, they found evidence of occupation in Iron Age and Romano-British times.
MANIFOLD VALLEY
On 27 June 1904, a railway line which ran through the valley was opened and known as the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway. The North Staffordshire Railway Company operated it. The problem was that the line followed the valley bottom, but Wetton and the other settlements it served were mostly on the top of hills. As a result, it was not convenient and proved unpopular with the locals. The consequence was a lack of profit, and the line only had a short life, closing in 1934.
Following the line closure, the track bed was removed, resurfaced and opened as the Manifold Way in 1937. It is eight miles in length and runs from Hulme End in the north, where there is an information centre, to Waterhouses on the A523/A52 Leek to Ashbourne Road. The trail is suitable for walkers and cyclists and has proved very popular with visitors.
MANIFOLD VALLEY WALK
TEN FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT WETTON
1. Visitors are attracted to the area by some of the most spectacular scenery in the Peak District, rich in wildflowers, butterflies, and birds.
2. In the past, mining was an important source of employment for the villagers. The building of the Crescent at Buxton is said to have been funded by the Duke of Devonshire out of the profits of his copper mine at nearby Ecton Hill in the Manifold Valley.
3. Stone from a quarry to the northwest of Wetton was used for making paving setts, which paved the streets of Stoke-on-Trent.
4. Wetton Mill, owned by the National Trust, is the starting point of many walks. It is a popular spot with visitors to the Manifold Valley. Initially, it was a water mill used to grind corn. The remains of the millstream and an old grindstone can still be seen.
5. Wetton Mill once had a railway station and waiting room, but the mill had ceased production before the railway line arrived.
6. The Leek and Manifold Light Railway was a narrow-gauge railway running through the valley from Hulme End to Waterhouses. The North Staffordshire Railway Company operated it.
7. The line opened mainly to provide a faster service for milk and dairy products from farms around the valley. It met the daily milk trains from Waterhouses to London. Also, it offered more accessible transport services for the copper mined at Ecton.
8. The Manifold Valley Visitor Centre at the northern end of the Manifold Track is in the ticket office of the former Hulme End Station. There is a permanent exhibition of the history of the railway, the landscapes, archaeology, and the natural history of the Manifold Valley, and a separate cafe.
9. Swainsley Tunnel was initially built for the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway at the behest of Sir Thomas Wardle, director of the company, so that the view from nearby Swainsley Hall would not be spoiled and the railway noise and fumes would be kept away.
10. A single-track ran through the tunnel, which is 164 yards long and is now part of the Manifold Way. Several pedestrian refuges are built into the sidewalls, enabling walkers to get out of the way of traffic using the tunnel.
