Carvers Rocks, Derbyshire Starts at Ticknall Car Park 3 hours 42 minutes 7.4miles 11.9km Moderate ID: 0.1448 Developed by: Phil Cheesewright Checked by: Bob Rotheram www.ramblersroutes.org An interesting circular walk from the pleasant village of Ticknall to Carver's Rocks, taking in Foremark Reservoir and the course of the old Ticknall Tramway - including its tunnels - together with the old limestone workings that the tramway served. 500 m 2000 ft Crown Copyright 2012 Scale = 1 : 27K Main Route Alternative Route Point of Interest Waypoint The Ramblers is Britain s walking charity. We work to safeguard the footpaths, countryside and other places where we all go walking. We encourage people to walk for their health and wellbeing. To become a member visit www.ramblers.org.uk
Starts at The Car Park, Ingleby Lane, Ticknall, Derbys, DE73 7JX (SK 353241) Getting there By car, take the A514 to Ticknall village. Turn into Ingleby Lane, which is opposite the Wheel Inn. Coming from the north you will get plenty of warning of the pub, which is on the left. From the south the junction is 50 metres after the Ticknall Village Store, which is on the right. Pass Hayes Farm Court and Rose Lane on the left, then turn left into the car park which is 100m from the junction. At the time of writing, Ticknall is served hourly every day by bus routes 60 and 61 from Derby to Swadlincote (0871 200 2233, www.traveline.info). Route instructions [1] Go to the left of the village hall and follow the path through a wooden gate then a metal gate into the churchyard. (A) Ticknall Church is first recorded in 1200. It was confirmed to the Priory of Repton in 1271. Within the churchyard are the worn remains of a probable preaching cross, said to have been moved there from an original site nearby. This may pre-date the earliest church. The remains of Ticknall s first church, dedicated to St Thomas à Becket, stand in the churchyard. A steady rise in the population meant that the church became too small to serve the parish adequately. The existing church was built in 1842, designed by Henry Isaac Stevens of Derby. Following demolition of the body of the old church, the tower and spire were blown up with gunpowder in September 1841. A corner of the tower and the east window of the north aisle still survive today. Follow the path through the churchyard, crossing the path from the main gate to the church entrance. Leave the churchyard by a wooden door in a wall, entering the cricket field. Turn sharp right to the corner of the cricket field and cross the stile into an arable field. Turn left and follow the field boundary. At the back of the cricket pavilion cross a track and keep the field boundary on your left. Go through a metal gate into a plantation and past a pond. The path becomes a green lane. Go through another metal gate. Eventually the path dips and you get a good view to the north west towards the hills around Ashbourne with the dead cooling towers of Willington Power Station in the foreground. At the bottom of the dip is a wooden gate and a path junction. This is Hangman's Stone. [2] After passing through the gate turn left down a field boundary marked by a stone wall. Follow this to a line of willows where you follow round to the right. Shortly after the willows you will find an orchard on your left, followed by a grassy track, which may be easier to negotiate than the field, according to the state of the crop. Whichever route you use you will go past a pond on the left and emerge onto a stony track by Bendall's Farm. Turn left and walk to the road (Repton Road), passing to the right of a wide metal gate. At the road turn left and walk uphill on the verge towards the entrance to Foremark Reservoir, which you can see on the right 250 metres away, bordered by low wooden railings. (B) Foremark Reservoir is Owned by Severn Trent Water, this 230 acre reservoir is part of a system of reservoirs managing water supply to the East and West Midlands. The reservoir and surrounding nature reserve is ideal for woodland walks, bird watching, picnicking, trout fishing and horse riding. There is a children's play area and an information point. The visitor centre was opened in 1997 and the existing woodland was supplemented by 4ha of new planting.
Foremark Reservoir and Carver's Rocks have a rich and varied flora and fauna. The marshy areas support locally important plants. During summer, the marshes are a good place to see reed buntings and the reservoir fringe has breeding great crested grebes. In open areas, you may hear woodcock on early summer evenings. The reservoir boasts an abundance of butterflies including dingy skipper, brown argus, Essex skipper and purple hairstreak. When you reach the railings cross over and turn right up the tarred drive into the reservoir grounds. 300m up the drive take the right turn and walk to the picnic area and enjoy the view of the reservoir. Then walk to the left along the reservoir edge past a car park (there is a children s playground in the trees to your left ) until you reach a second picnic area and car park next to the visitor centre. Go past the visitor centre and fenced seating area to a sign saying Local Walks. [3] Fork left onto a made-up path through trees. Shortly afterwards you emerge into an open grassed area. Keep going ahead with the reservoir on your right, past a small sandy beach (no swimming is allowed!) to a fence line. At the fence go left, then immediately after, at the sign Footpath to Carvers Rocks turn right down a stony path. Follow this undulating path, eventually going up 7 steps, along for a while and past a seat and information board (where you ignore a path to the left). Then go down 27 steps to a sign for Scaddows Oaks (which you also ignore), then down a further 22 steps. You emerge by the water. Go up 8 steps to reach a long boardwalk. Follow this to a further 5 steps down to a platform giving an excellent view of a small boggy hollow. Climb 6 steps out of the hollow to enter a sloping grassy area with a fingerpost. Ignore this and turn right up the slope and cross to a stile marked 'Nature Reserve' where you re-enter the wood. Turn left and follow an unmade woodland path. Cross a small footbridge. You will begin to see gritstone appearing in the path. Cross a larger footbridge then veer leftward up a low bank and turn left along a significant unmade path. Ignore the scramble up the bank through undergrowth to your right, this leads nowhere. After 80 metres go right over a low bank and drop down to reach Carvers Rocks. If you don t fancy this there is an easier option 20 metres further on. (C) Carver's Rocks is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and is a scheduled Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its geology and plants. Access to the SSSI is restricted to the paths through the woodland. It also contains one of the last areas of heathland in lowland Derbyshire, and supports two nationally rare invertebrate species as well as nationally uncommon moths, beetles, hoverflies and sawflies. The 8 10 m high crags are part natural outcrop and part man-made as the rocks were quarried in the 19th century for the construction of local buildings (more info below). Walk along the base of the rock face to the end of the face and keep straight on through a small clearing to a path junction where you turn left. On your right you should see a weed-choked stream bed through the trees. You will emerge at a small boardwalk with a right-angled bend in it. [4] Make the right turn, ignoring a rough path straight ahead, and go up steps to a steep winding path into the woods. Follow this until you reach a fence on the left, and shortly afterwards go through a stile into a horse eventing course. You will see horse jumps to the left, right and straight ahead of you. Follow the ride straight ahead uphill and go through a stile which has a field gate beyond it on the left. Ignore this, turning right into a new plantation bounded by wide grassy tracks. Take the left hand one and go down to a stony lane, where there is a fine view to the south and information boards about Hartshorne Wood. Turn left along the lane past a large shed then past the imaginatively named Buildings Farm to reach the A514 Hartshorne to Ticknall road. Cross carefully into Coal Lane. 200 metres along, there are farm buildings on the right (Coppice House Farm) and a field entry on the left. 50 metres past this, turn
left through a gap in the hedge onto a wide grass track bordered by a hedge and a plantation. Ignore a right turn, instead crossing a stile marked no horses allowed beyond this point and proceed towards a wood where the track turns right. 75 metres on cross the stile to the left, marked by a gritstone post with ancient lettering. This is Smith's Gorse on the map. Ignore the second stile giving access to a small pond. The stile gives access to a triangular field. Officially the path goes along the right hand hedge, but a well-trodden path leads up the middle of the field directly to a gap in the hedge on the horizon. Pass through the gap, getting a good view northwards including the spire of Ticknall church. Cross the next field, initially aiming ahead towards a distant brick house, then turning right downhill towards a white-walled building. Cross the stile 20 metres to the right of this building onto the B5006 Ashby to Ticknall road. [5] Turn left, taking care there are no pavements here. Carefully cross the road and follow it past Top Farm and a side turning for Staunton Harold. 50 metres after a pleasant cottage on the right turn right at a fingerpost then immediately left onto the old trackbed of the Ticknall Tramway, which has been resurfaced with crushed limestone. (D) The Ticknall Tramway was part of a complex of tramways constructed to link the brickyards, lime quarries and lime yards of Ticknall to the Ashby de la Zouch Canal at the Willesley basin near Donisthorpe (SK 331141). Other sections linked to Cloud Hill quarries and lime works and Smoile and Lount collieries (more info below). Ignore the stile ahead. Follow the trackbed through the first tunnel. Note that the path up to the right is not an alternative route here. A torch is advisable here, but the path is unobstructed and you can see through the tunnel. Continue through an avenue of hawthorn trees, which presumably were once the hedges bounding the line, ignoring paths to the left and right. [6] Pass through the second tunnel. (E) The Ticknall Tramway Tunnels are Grade II listed structures and part of the Ticknall Tramway built in 1802 by the famous Derbyshire engineer Benjamin Outram. There are two of these, the following details are for the longer of the two. There were several alternative routes considered for the tramway but the only way to avoid crossing the driveway to the Harpur family residence of Calke Abbey, thus preserving the appearance of the park, was to go underneath by a cut-and-cover tunnel. Considered as some of the oldest railway arches in the world, and restored by the National Trust and converted into a footpath in 1995. The tunnel is 138 yards in length and has a variable height and width, the maximum height being almost 8 feet and the maximum width being about 12 feet. At the far end you pass under the driveway to Calke Abbey, which is marked by strengthening beams in the roof. This tunnel is darker and there are fallen stones on the left, so keep to the centreline of the tunnel if possible. You can avoid this tunnel by leaving the trackbed to the right and passing through a wooden gate. Go slightly right past the left side of a rush-choked pond then veer left to a line of trees which shelter the drive to Calke Abbey. On the other side of the drive is a fence which humps slightly to cross the tunnel. Aim 10m to the right of this and you should find a stile and steps back down to the trackbed. On emerging from the tunnel you enter the Ticknall limeworks which gave rise to the Tramway.
(F) Ticknall Limeworks Lime kilns were operating by 1462 when Elyn Assewall leased her late husband s limekiln and house to Symond Ragge, so the limeyards have been worked at least since then. Lime was burnt to make mortar and plaster, or to spread on the fields. Rough limestone was used as a cheap building material. By 1804 the tramway was conveying lime to the Ashby Canal. Within the limeyards there is a network of tramways and tunnels, banks of limekilns, water-filled quarries and embankments, threaded by unofficial footpaths. It has become rich in plant life and is an S.S.S.I. (Site of Special Scientific Interest), one of only six in the South Derbyshire district (more info below). Follow the trackbed downhill then across a steel bridge and through a wooden gate to find lime kilns which are spanned by a smaller bridge. Proceed through another wooden gate and you come to a stone bridge spanning the trackbed. Go under the bridge and proceed through a gap in a limestone cliff, over a stile which brings you to an abandoned quarry. Note the limestone face to the right. Directly to the left a muddy path leads over a low bank to ponds which are good for a refreshment stop. Otherwise continue past the ponds to a stile by a wide gate. Continue forwards uphill to a T-junction on a wide stony track. Go left along the track. You come out onto the A514 (Main Street Ticknall). As you pass the steel barrier on the track you can see the stems of monstrous growths of Old Man s Beard (Clematis) on the left. Further on, opposite the cottages you can see the resulting top growth. [7] Turn left and follow the road, crossing over with care to stay on the pavement. Go under the Ticknall Arch. (G) The Ticknall Arch is a bridge built to carry the tramway across Main Street to reach to reach quarries and kilns on the north side. Is Grade II listed. Was built around 1802 (the listing gives 1794). Opposite the entrance to Calke Abbey, turn right through a chain fence. (H) Calke Abbey. The house and grounds are run by the National Trust, and are well worth a visit. Since this walk does not approach the Abbey, no detail is given here. See www.nationaltrust.org.uk/calke-abbey/ Cross a small area of grass to pass behind the cottages into Chapel Street (unmarked). This has several fine houses and a chapel with a cast iron standpipe in front. A series of these standpipes was erected in 1914 on the orders of Sir Vauncey Harpur Crewe to replace the former water well supply. Two are still in working order. The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built in 1815. It retains its original gallery, supported on cast iron pillars and is a very good example of its period. At the junction with Ingleby Lane cross with care into the car park through a wooden gate. Additional 'Point of Interest' information (C) The outcrop of Carvers Rocks, plus the quarry at Melbourne, apparently provided the best building stone in the area. The name is thought to be associated with Lawrence Carver of Ticknall (born 1701), although in 1836 they were called Repton Rocks and more recently, Dawson s Rocks. The outcrop is composed of crags of Millstone Grit sandstone deposited from a major river delta in carboniferous times. The rocks are actually made of the youngest (or uppermost) sandstone horizon in the Millstone Grit succession, known as the Rough Rock Formation. This unit formed an extensive sheet of thick sandstone that spread across the Carboniferous Pennine Basin today it can also be seen as a prominent feature in the landscape of the Peak District and the Pennines. The crags are covered in lichen, so little is visible of the geological features. However, you will be able to see that the sandstone is generally fine to medium grained and, in places cross-bedding can be observed.
(D) After 1874, the tramway was cut short at Old Parks Junction (SK 365186). The tramway was in use for slightly more than a century (last used in 1913 and closed officially in 1915). It was built as an alternative to the existing form of transport (horse drawn wagons) because there were moves afoot to convert the existing road into a toll road. The other option would have been to build a new length of canal, however, that was too expensive as it would have meant building several flights of locks. The wagons were horse drawn and built by the Butterley iron company. The tramway was used to transport the products out and the coal for the kilns in. The tramway of 20 km (12.5 miles) consisted of cast iron flanged rails, 0.91 m (3 ft) in length weighing an average of 17.3 kg (38 lbs) mounted on stone sleeper blocks of not less than 68.2 kg (150 lbs). This system of using a flanged rail and a flat section wheel was known as a plateway, as opposed to the flanged wheel and flat rail of a railway. The rails were cast at Outram's Butterley foundry and he estimated that they would absorb the full capacity of the works for 15 months. The gauge was 1.27 m (4 ft 2ins), an increase of 203 mm (8 ins) over Outram's earlier tramways because he believed that the additional width would give greater capacity for general freight. The tramway was double tracked south of Old Parks, but single tracked with passing places elsewhere. R B Schofield in his biography of Benjamin Outram describes the tramway system as being "well ahead of its time" and "a milestone in transport technology and a model for the modern railway systems which followed thirty years later." The route of the line can still be traced for most of its length. (F) By the 17th century, wills and inventories show that several leading farmers were involved in working the limestone quarries. South of the Main Street, there were originally several independent limeyards run by separate families such as the Sales, Hutchinsons and Gilberts. Their individual identities and boundaries can still be traced despite gradual purchase and amalgamation by the Harpur Crewe Estate in the 19th century. Together they form one of the largest concentrations of historic lime kilns in Great Britain. On the north side of the street are the remains of further limeyards and also two brickyards, run in the 19th century by the Hill and Smart families. A full history of Ticknall Village with a map of interesting buildings can be found at www.ticknall.org.uk/magazine/features/163-history Notes Maps: OS Explorer 245; Landranger 128. The route is generally flat apart from the section between [5] and [9] which is undulating with many steps. There are also some stiles on the route. There are toilets at Ticknall Car Park and Foremark Reservoir Visitor Centre. Eating & Drinking: Several places in Ticknall. Sleeping: A number of B&B's in Ticknall. Visitor information: Swandlicote TIC, Sharpe s Pottery Museum (01283 222848, http://www.ticknall.org.uk). Guidebook: Short Walks in the Peak District by Brian Spencer ( 5.99, Collins Ramblers, ISBN 978 0007359448). Local Ramblers Group: Derby & South Derbyshire Ramblers (01332 558552, www.derbyramblers.org.uk).
Acknowledgements Developed by: Phil Cheesewright Checked by: Bob Rotheram Edited by: Mary Gough Route developed by Phil Cheesewright featured in Spring 2013 (38) edition of Walk Mag. Route originally named - Ticknall, Carver's Rocks and Ticknall Tramway.
[1] Ticknall Church [3] Field at Bendalls Farm [5] The Beach [5] Foremark Reservoir Visitor Centre
[6] Carver's Rocks - The Entrance [7] Carver's Rocks [8] The Stile Out of the Wood [8] Walk Straight Up Here
[11] Old Stone at Smith's Gorse [14] Cottage on B5006 - turn right 50m after [15] Ticknall Tramway Tunnel 1 [16] Ticknall Tramway Tunnel 2
[17] Ticknall Limeworks Pool [17] Ticknall Limeworks Quarry Face [19] Ticknall Arch [20] Take Care In Chapel Street
[20] Ticknall Methodist Church [21] Back to the Car Park