TIDESWELL
PLAN YOUR DAY OUT
Location: Half a mile south of the A623 Baslow to Chapel-en-le-Frith Road. (SK152754).
Visit: Tideswell’s magnificent church is often called the ‘Cathedral of the Peak’. After exploring the village, take a short walk to Litton along the back road (unsuitable for vehicles). An expansive grass verge runs down the side of the street of this attractive upland village, situated almost 1,000 feet above sea level.
Refreshments: The village has a good selection of public houses, cafes and restaurants to suit all tastes.
Walk: This glorious walk takes you along picturesque dales, past dark satanic mills, through woodland and lovely open countryside.
Special Places of Interest in the Locality: Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club at Great Hucklow is a members’ club, but also offers trial flights for visitors. There is a large car park where visitors can sit, picnic and watch the gliders taking off and landing. Check for opening details – Bakewell is a picturesque old market town set in the heart of the Peak District. Visitors flock there in the summer, to shop and explore its many nooks and crannies, to admire its fine buildings, or relax by the lovely, clear, sparkling waters of the River Wye. – Any tourist visiting the beautiful village of Eyam for the first time, not knowing of its tragic history, rapidly becomes aware by reading the plaques on the walls of buildings.
INTRODUCTION
Tideswell is a large, very well-kept, upland village of considerable character, ablaze with colour in the summer with hanging baskets and flower tubs everywhere. It is often said that Tideswell is ‘too big to be a village and too small to be a town’. The population of around 2,000 has remained relatively static over the last 200 years. Nor has the street scene changed much, even if the use of many buildings is different.
Tideswell was granted a market charter in 1250, and although the market has long since ceased, it still has the air of a busy, small market town. It has a wide main street and a magnificent parish church, often called ‘the Cathedral of the Peak’, that would not be out of place in a large town.
ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH
The church, dedicated to St John the Baptist, with its superb pinnacle tower, has dominated the village for over 600 years. Rebuilding started in 1346, 50 years before completion. The Black Death that swept the country interrupted work for a lengthy period in the early stages. The church is spacious and lofty, with many fine carvings and stained-glass windows.
Most of the carvings are the work of Advent Hunstone. At the time, Canon Andrew, the vicar, encouraged him to switch from the family stone masonry business to woodcarving. The Canon then quickly set Advent to work in the vicarage coach-house at fourpence an hour. Advent’s work in the church is much admired, with the lectern, north transept screen, reredos, communion table, vicar’s chair, organ case and south door all his work. His son, Advent Junior, was responsible for the churchyard gates, a tradition carried on for three generations. Today, the work of the Hunstone family decorates churches far beyond Derbyshire.
THE AMAZING SAMUEL SLACK
Samuel Slack, a noted bass singer, was born in Tideswell in 1757. He was commanded to sing before George III, and as a young man, he competed for a place in the College Choir at Cambridge. After he had sung, there was a stunned silence, and none of the other contestants had the opportunity to sing after such an excellent performance. Such was the high opinion of Singer Slack that he received an invitation to lead the choir in Westminster Abbey. He declined, preferring to sing with his friends in the village.
One interesting story about Slack’s exploits is how he lay down in a field to recover from overindulgence at the pub. When the snorting of a bull aroused him to sobriety, he jumped up and gave such a loud bellow that the animal took fright and ran off! Upholding the musical tradition of the village, the Tideswell Male Voice Choir, Silver Band and other local societies hold regular concerts in the church.
THE VILLAGE
Many buildings of architectural interest are among the village’s maze of alleyways and lanes. None more so than Tideswell Grammar School, founded in 1559 by Bishop Pursglove. Eccles Hall and Blake House, notable Georgian buildings, accommodated staff and pupils. The school closed in 1927, and the library and information point now take up part of the area where students used to live.
Bagshaw Hall overlooks the old marketplace, built in 1872 as the Odd Fellows Hall, with its giant pilasters and commanding position, certainly attracts attention. It was converted into ‘The Picture House’ in 1921 for a short time. Opposite is the building that once operated as Tideswell College after the closure of the Grammar School.
On St. John’s Road is Bishop Pursglove C.E. (Aided) Primary School, and next to it is an immaculate sports centre catering for football, cricket, tennis, and bowls. To the west is Sherwood Road, once the Peak District’s mini-Manchester of textile mills.
The village is renowned for its annual Wakes and Well Dressings, which start on Saturdays next to 24 June each year and last for a week, with a carnival, parades, and fun for the whole family. The annual Tideswell Food Festival is held in May each year when food stalls line the streets with local food, art, live music and street entertainment. A Makers Market also takes place in the village church.
TIDESWELL DALE
At the village’s southern end is Tideswell Dale, a nature reserve with a car park, toilets, a picnic area and an intriguing sculpture trail. To the south of the dale lies a particularly scenic section of the Wye Valley, with steep-sided hills on either side.
The small villages of Litton Mill and Millers Dale are just about able to find enough room to squeeze in along the valley floor. Constructing a railway line with tunnels, viaducts, and cuttings was tricky. But in 1867, the line opened, linking Manchester with London, and it closed just over one hundred years later. It is now a trail for walkers and cyclists to enjoy.
TEN FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT TIDESWELL
1. Following the granting of a market charter in 1250, most of modern Tideswell was constructed around the marketplace, which still exists but no longer operates.
2. For thousands of years, the inhabitants of Tideswell lived by an open brook and the road that passed through the village. The brook was eventually culverted, but its influence on the village’s layout is evident.
3. Tideswell is very ancient, and evidence of Neolithic settlements has been found there.
4. The Saxons ruled in Tideswell after the Romans had departed. In the 7th century, the village was named ‘Tidi’s Wall’ after the Saxon Chieftain Tidi. The name remained with a variety of spellings until the 17th century.
5. Historically, Tideswell was a key trading centre and held regular markets and annual fairs; it was also an important part of the royal forest and the surrounding area became known as the ‘King’s Larder’.
6. In `Churches and Chapels in The County of Derby`, Rawlins said the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist was `without exception the most perfect and beautiful specimen of pointed architecture to be found in the County, or perhaps in any other parish church of its size in the entire Kingdom`.
7. The George Hotels ‘Venetian windows are much admired. It was a popular style in the 18th century when the inn opened to serve coaches between Buxton, Sheffield and Derby.
8. In recent years, Tideswell has won both the Derbyshire Best Kept Village Award and the East Midlands section of the Britain in Bloom Contest on several occasions.
9. Tideswell Wakes Week has been a village tradition for about 750 years. It coincides annually with Tideswell Well Dressing during the Church’s Patronal Festival around St. John’s Baptist’s Day.
10. Nicholas Garlick was a schoolmaster at Tideswell for six or seven years. He was later martyred at Derby with Robert Ludlam for his faith. It was not illegal to be a Catholic, but training abroad to be a priest, which he had done, was against the law.
TIDESWELL DALE WALK
