TUTBURY AND ROLLESTON PARK WALK
THE WALK
Tutbury and Rolleston Park Walk is a very relaxing walk near the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border. It takes you through pleasant rolling countryside with no steep gradients. The picturesque village of Rolleston-on-Dove is on the outward journey, and you pass the site of an ancient corn mill as you return.
LOOK OUT FOR
Point 1 – Tutbury Museum is run entirely by volunteers. It contains a fascinating collection of photographs, old maps, documents, artefacts, tools and memorabilia relating to the history of Tutbury. Housed on the ground floor of the Charity House, known locally as the ‘Old Soup Kitchen’. During the depression, the poorer people of the village were able to obtain soup and bread there for a halfpenny a pint.
Route Point 3 – Rolleston Park, which you pass through on the walk, was part of the Rollestons’ estate, who were formerly Lords of the Manor. Rolleston-on-Dove has grown rapidly in recent years as a commuter village. But, there has been a settlement here, around the parish church of St Mary and the Alderbrook for hundreds of years. The present church was built in about 1270, but there are traces of even earlier churches dating back to Saxon times.
Point 4 – The Spread Eagle is one of the oldest buildings in the village. Originally known as The Mosley Arms, named after the Mosley family who succeeded the Rollestons as Lords of the Manor. Their arms are above the fireplace in the pub, which is now known as the Spread Eagle.
Point 5 – As you leave the village, you pass the imposing gates to what was Rolleston Hall. It was once the home of Sir Oswald Mosley. He was the nephew of the famous politician of the same name. The sale of the Mosley estate in the mid-1920s and the demolition of the larger part of Rolleston Hall released new land for building and ended the life of what had been an imposing building.
Point 8 – The present house on the corner of Corn Mill Lane occupies the site of a mill, which was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 and was the oldest listed surviving mill in the area. There was also a mill pond and mill race. For many years, the mill was used as a high-quality sheepskin and leather shop, now converted into a private house.
Point 9 – Nestlé’s Factory complex is on the Derbyshire side of the River Trent at Hatton. The first factory was built on the site in 1901 by the Nestlé Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. It began processing milk from local farms, making good use of the adjacent railway line. Although the beginning of Nescafé dates back to 1930, it was only in 1959 that the factory began the production of instant coffee. It is one of only two places in the country that produces the Nestlé range of coffee.
WALK DETAILS
Length: 6.5 miles.
Start: There is a car park at the top of Monk Street, near Tutbury Castle (SK212288). The railway station is on the Hatton side of the River Dove off the A511.
Location: North-west of Burton, on the A511 road to Foston, which links with the old Derby to Uttoxeter road.
Terrain: Easy, level walking with good open views. It can be wet in places and a bit overgrown in summer.
Refreshments: The Dog and Partridge, situated in the heart of Tutbury, a splendid 15th-century, former coaching inn, full of character with oak beams and an open log fire in winter; Tutbury Tea Room in High Street is a popular choice. Several other pubs, tea shops and restaurants in the village serve food and refreshments.
THE ROUTE
1. Turn left out of the car park and walk past Tutbury Museum. On reaching a mini-roundabout at the top of the main street, turn right up Ludgate Street. After reaching Portway Drive on the left-hand side of the road, continue ahead up the public footpath. Care, do not continue to follow the road. The path leads you up to Green Lane.
2. Turn left down the lane and then right after 25 yards, to go through a metal gate. Keep to the right of the building and continue straight ahead down a field track. At the end of the track, go through a gate and angle to the right across a large field, heading towards a tall tree in the distance.
3. Walk through a gap into the top corner of the next field, and after a few yards, turn left and cross the field at an angle of about 45 degrees to a metal gate and a yellow walk indicator. Head for the gate into the farmyard at Rolleston Park, turn left in the yard and leave the farm by the drive, which you follow all the way to the main road.
4. Turn right and walk along the pavement for about 200 yards to a stile on the left marked by a footpath sign for Rolleston. As indicated by the route markers, maintain the same direction over four smallish fields to reach Brook Hollows Spinney. Keep to the right through the Spinney, and then turn left down Burnside, as you head towards the centre of the village. Turn left again past the Spread-Eagle Hotel and continue your walk past the church.
5. Just after passing the gateway to what was once Rolleston Hall, where Sir Oswald Mosley lived, turn right up Shotwood Close. Where the road bends to the right, continue straight on down a farm track, by a fingerpost signed for Marston Lane and Tutbury. Follow the track around when it curves to the left.
6. When the track ends, go over a stile and keep close to the hedge on your right. Walk up the field to another stile in the top corner. Cross the stile and continue straight on with the hedge now close on your left, to go over a stile in the corner.
7. Then angle to the right across the next field to a stile about 70 yards from the right-hand corner.
8. Cross the stile and turn right along Corn Mill Lane. Near the corner of the lane on your right is the site of the Old Corn Mill.
9. Continue to follow the lane with care as there is no pavement until you reach the outskirts of Tutbury. On your right, on the other side of the river, is The Nestlé Factory.
10. On reaching Tutbury High Street, turn left and walk to the top of the street, and go right at the mini-roundabout to return to the starting point of the walk.
TUTBURY
