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The National Park's well-planned history trail at Roystone Grange gives a good introduction to walking in the Peak.
Distance 4 miles (6.4km)
Minimum time 2hrs
Ascent/gradient 360ft (110m)
Level of difficulty Easy
Paths Good paths and tracks, fields can be muddy
Landscape Farmland
Suggested map aqua3 OS Outdoor Leisure 24 White Peak
Start/finish SK 194582
Dog friendliness No dogs allowed on Roystone Grange Trail
Parking Minninglow car park, near Pikehall
Public toilets None on route
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1 From the back of the car park follow the old Cromford and High Peak Railway trackbed eastwards across lofty fields. The track swings south after passing over the first of two huge stone embankments. The railway track goes through a cutting where cowslips and orchids grow, then past an old stone quarry with a rusting crane tucked in the shade of the rockface. Back onto another railway embankment above Minninglow Grange Farm, you'll soon notice a complex of Victorian brick kilns. High-firing silica sands found near the farm were made into bricks here, for use as liners for the steel furnaces of Sheffield.
2 On reaching the brick kilns, leave the railway trackbed behind and turn left along a track known as Gallowlow Lane. This follows the original boundary of the medieval grange estate and is assumed to have been of medieval, or even of Roman origin. To the left is Minninglow Hill. The crown of gaunt beech trees hides an ancient barrow, Minning Low. This was excavated in 1851 revealing a very large megalithic chamber and several imperfect cists (stone coffins). One, however, was intact and with its capstone in place.
3 After about ¼ mile (400m) climb the stile in the right-hand wall, and follow the path under the old railway tunnel. Take the right of two gates in the next crosswall, then continue down a grassy hollow. Eventually a wall comes in from the left and the path runs alongside it. While you're here, look southwards and you should see a Bronze Age barrow on the next hilltop.
4 Go over a stile in the wall, then continue along its left side. Beyond another stile in the next crosswall, bear slightly to the left across a field, aiming for the top left-hand corner and in the direction of a building that looks like an old chapel. A stile here gives access to a farm track from Roystone Grange. Turn left here for a short way, before going through the waymarked gate towards the 'chapel'. The building is in fact a pump house whose engine used to send pressurised air to power the pneumatic drills used in the quarries that you saw earlier.
5 Follow the farm track north, past the modern farm to the disused dairy. The excavations here in 1978/9 unearthed the foundations of an old Roman manor, which stood on the boulder-strewn terrace beyond. The 2nd-century building would have had rubble-built walls and a thatched roof supported by aisle posts.Turn left along Minninglow Lane which takes you out onto the road proper, leading northwards back to the car park.
Every hill and valley has a story to tell. At first glance Roystone Grange looks nothing out of the ordinary - just a typical White Peak valley. There's a strange-looking group of trees on a hill to the east, but not much else of note. However, archaeologists from Sheffield University carried out diggings over several years and unearthed evidence of Roman farms and prehistoric camps. At the Bronze Age barrow that you can see from the walk, several skulls were found - mysteriously without the rest of their skeletons. The dig also revealed two Roman dress pins.
Excavations also revealed evidence that the grange was once owned by the Cistercians. The original Roystone Grange farm, then known as Revestones, was sited between the pump house and the woods behind. In the 14th century the farm was given, by Adam of Herthill, to the Cistercian abbey of Garendon in Leicestershire. Monks and local 'lay brothers' would have worked the sheep farm and sold most of the wool abroad, but hard times would follow after bad winters and the Black Death.
The National Park Authority subsequently developed and waymarked the Roystone Grange Trail, which takes you back 6,000 years into history.
You could visit nearby Winster, three miles to the east of Pikehall. It's an old lead-mining village with character in plenty, and most of its housing dating back to the 18th century. Centre stage in Winster however is the 16th-century Old Market Hall, now used as a National Trust information centre. The ground floor used to be open, with pointed stone arches, but they've since been bricked up. The upper floors are of brick. The Trust's purchase of the Hall in 1906 was their first acquisition in the Peak District. The village is also well known for its morris dancers and its annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race.
This is a surprisingly remote area area and there's nowhere on the route, but you could try the Miners Standard Inn just outside Winster to the east, or head north to the George in Youlegreave.
You could make a detour along the concessionary route from Roystone Grange to Ballidon. From this track junction 300yds (274m) south of Roystone Grange farm you should be able to pick out the remains of a Roman field system of banks and terraces.
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