HOME | PEAK DISTRICT COTTAGES | PEAK DISTRICT B&B | PEAK DISTRICT HOTELS

Peak District Tourist Information Search
HOME | More Peak District Tourist Information...

Birchover village guide
Click images to enlarge

90_birchoveropt.jpg
Birchover sits high in the Derbyshire hills

90_birchovercottageopt.jpg
Pretty garden

Location: Birchover
County: Derbyshire
Telephone - please mention Let's Stay Peak District: Bakewell TIC: (01629) 813227
Activities:
n/a

Attractions:
n/a

Area Guides:
Birchover


Details: THE WHITE PEAK village of Birchover stands amidst magnificent rock scenery on a west-facing hillside beneath the towering bulk of Stanton Moor, and the stone from its quarries is prized throughout the land.

Tom Bates explores this picturesque village on the edge of Stanton Moor

This area of Derbyshire is rich in mineral deposits: lead mining, quarrying for stone, and spar mining for barytes has provided the population with its main industry down the centuries.

Birchover stone from Stanton quarries has provided the raw material for the construction of many notable buildings, including the Tower of London, Windsor Castle and the Houses of Parliament.

The earliest settlement was originally located at what is now known as Uppertown, about half a mile south and slightly higher up the hill than the modern-day village of Birchover.

The Saxons were the first to settle here, and the Normans built the first church, but by the Middle Ages the population of 'Barcovere', as it is recorded in the Domesday Book, had outgrown the available water supply, so the whole village moved further down the hill to where the water was more plentiful.

There is no written record of any church at Uppertown, but numerous carved and decorated stones, some bearing decorative Norman chevrons can still be found in the dry-stone walls which mark the field boundaries.

A single reference, however, in an ancient Derbyshire charter dated around 1300 states that 'a rent of one farthing in silver to be paid yearly on Michaelmas Day in ye chapel at Birchover'.

Today's Birchover straddles the road which winds its way up the hill from the main B5056, becoming steeper as it climbs eastwards towards the quarries on the edge of Stanton Moor.
The village is a well-balanced blend of ancient and modern architecture and boasts a shop, two pubs, (the Red Lion and the Druid Inn), a late 17th-century church built originally as a private chapel, and two Non-Conformist chapels no longer used for worship.

The dwellings are mainly of local gritstone, and the hillside village has some unusual and spectacular cottage gardens to please the visitor.

The gardens provide an annual highlight on the social calendar in July when the residents open them to the public during Birchover Open Gardens Weekend, and local produce and refreshments are available as the village takes on a gala atmosphere centred around the war memorial and the Red Lion.

The Druid Inn is a well-known feature of the village to many visitors, being an old picturesque hostelry known for the excellent country fare provided by its restaurant.

With its ivy-covered walls, and set back on a bend in the road towards the bottom and western end of the village, it nestles snugly beneath the mass of gritstone known as Rowtor Rocks.

Local legend has it that Rowtor was a sacred site used by the ancient Celts as a Druid temple, Indeed, this curiously-arranged pile of gritstone has a number of strange features which lend essence to the legend; a tunnel leads inward from the base of the rocks for about 25 feet until it suddenly narrows, and a chimney rises overhead with stone steps carved into the rock leading upwards. The steps lead to a terrace, which in turn leads to two man-made chambers hewn out of the solid rock.

At intervals along the steep, twisting pathways which wind their way through the rocks, can be seen a variety of rock basins and carvings, post-holes which once supported wooden poles, sheltered seating and viewing platforms, old gateposts, and a number of Neolithic 'cup and ring' markings.

A closer inspection of local records will show that the site was once the garden playground of the Reverend Thomas Eyre, whose private chapel and vicarage (Rowtor Hall) once stood at the southern edge of the rocks. It is known that he built some viewing terraces and was responsible for the three armchairs which are carved from the rock near the summit.

This work was carried out to commemorate the ascension to the throne of William of Orange and Mary in 1689. Thomas Eyre died on November 30th 1717, and Rowtor Hall fell into disrepair. The original chapel still stands, although it was much improved by Mr. Thornhill in 1870, and is now administered by the Church of England.

Seventeenth-century records tell of no less than three rocking stones at Rowtor, with one weighing at least fifty tons, and all capable of being rocked by a single person. Today, however, only one remains.

The rocky fortress of Mock Beggar Hall, or Grained Tor, (so-called because of the weathered serrations at the summit) - but more popularly known as Robin Hood's Stride - commands the skyline to the west.
The site of a Romano-British encampment stands atop Cratcliffe Rocks, and the area is rich in ancient archeological remains.

There are several stone circles within a mile or two of the village and the ancient tracks and pathways which crisscross the area provide a tourist haven for an ever-increasing number of hikers.

The western end of Stanton Moor marks the Parish boundary. The moor itself is the site of one of the largest known Bronze Age cemeteries in Europe, and is dotted with cairns and burial mounds. Birchover owes much to its two most notable families, the Thornhills of Stanton Hall and the Heathcotes of Barn Farm.

Down the centuries both have been responsible for shaping and providing the village with it history and its heritage, and continue to do so today.

Facilities
Bank: No
Shops: Village general store
Pubs: Druid Inn (01629 650302) and The Red Lion (Tel: 01629 650363) both serve food.




(id: '90') This listing has been viewed 941 times

Another Peak District Tourist Guide listing created by Let's Stay Peak District - Tel: 01629 640 640.