Above, near Chelmorton Flatt Farm, a rabbit cloud (right) prepares to do battle with a duck cloud (left). above a tumbledown limestone wall. Like the other four pictures in this batch, I snapped the photograph on Friday afternoon as I was rambling east of Buxton in North Derbyshire.
Below you can see Burrs Farm which you may find in the map I added to the bottom of yesterday's blogpost. What a peaceful place to live - on a high limestone plateau but close to the rather lovely village of Chelmorton.
Below - in another lovely village called Wormhill I took this picture of St Margaret's Church. It has an unusual tower with an almost unique roof in a German or Rheinish Helm style. This was not a feature of the original thirteenth century design. The tower was remodelled in 1670. Unfortunately, the church doors were locked so I was unable to snoop around inside.
Leaving Wormhill, I plodded west to another vast limestone quarry at Tunstead. Along the way I took the next picture of a tree and the limestone wall that bordered the track for half a mile. The colours on Friday were so clear and true but within an hour evening was beginning to elbow its way in.
And I took this last picture of a blast shelter above Tunstead Quarry in fading light. When blasting is forewarned by sirens from the quarry below, walkers and quarrymen are advised to shelter in these concrete igloos. It did not contain a fridge filled with an array of alcoholic drinks nor a flat screen TV and an easy chair. In fact it smelt vaguely of urine.
Any shelter in a storm?
ReplyDeleteSo what were the towers used for? Are there rooms in them? Or were they just symbolic? A big finger (I hope) pointed at the heavens where the god existed?
Another question- why are there so few trees? Is this a natural occurrence or have those fields just been cleared for eons?
Yours truly...Curious Mary
Once that limestone plateau would have certainly been wooded but that was long ago. Yes - eons ago. Virtually all old English churches have towers. They were sometimes look-out places but mostly they rose up as towering symbols of religious belief. They would also hold church bells to call people to services or to toll deaths or marriages or births.
DeleteI'm currently reading a WWII novel and my first thought about the blast shelter is that it was for sheltering from bombs. Quarry blasts could do some damage as well, I imagine.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos, YP. You certainly get your share of exercise and fresh air.
Very occasionally rocks from explosions can catapult far from the blast site.
DeleteWalks are always good if you know where you're going and what you're about to see. So then you write some interesting and informative posts.
ReplyDeleteYou have got it in a nutshell Red.
DeleteWhat a beautiful day you had for a walk. I am a cloud watcher too. It's amazing what you can see in those fluffy clouds. That really is a unique top on the church tower. I always wonder about the designers of such buildings and churches.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wonder about the builders , the stone masons and the carpenters. These were the people who built our villages, towns and cities - not the architects and designers.
DeleteA pleasant day spent in the countryside by the looks of it...
ReplyDeleteGood exercise too.
DeleteMy kind of walk. I would have been thinking of that farmhouse and its peaceful location, and the family living there, for a long time. The church tower is indeed very unusual. It would have been interesting to look inside the church.
ReplyDeleteIt was sunny yesterday when I arrived at O.K.'s mid-afternoon (more than an hour later than planned, thanks to two missed train connections...), and the spring colours and birdsong made for a pleasant walk after coffee and cake. Today we will probably go further. We do like our walks, and spring is just such a good time to be out there.
It's nice that OK shares your love of walking - or perhaps you awakened this interest in him?
DeleteWe both loved walking, hiking and running long before we met. But I had not been doing any proper hiking (or owned hiking books) for many years until we started our relationship.
DeleteEven today it can be slightly unnerving for women to go walking on their own
DeleteI wonder who would have won that battle - the rabbit or the duck? Perhaps they just melded into a big fluffy rabbuck or duckit?
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! You should do stand-up JayCee!
DeleteCan an igloo be made from concrete? i see the need for a shelter but it's a blight on the landscape, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteMost walkers never see them. They are usually on the rims of quarries - often beyond the fences.
DeleteLovely photos. The weather on Friday was indeed perfect for walking. Kay and I managed a few miles.
ReplyDeleteI wonder where you were walking. In countryside I hope.
DeleteEskimo urine? Love the drystone walls and the old church photos Mr Pudding.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't eskimo urine as that smells of fish.
DeleteYes I remember Nell.
DeleteI would have enjoyed your walk very much although I rarely walk in the open countryside these days preferring the shelter of trees in the bitter winds we have been having. Your photos are, as always, a joy to look at.
ReplyDeleteYou are most gracious Graham. Thank you.
DeleteI like that church tower. Definitely unlike any other I've seen in England.
ReplyDeleteAnd more teasels!
It is believed that the roof of the tower was modelled upon one that still exists on the outskirts of Brighton.
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