“The East Midlands has been a hotbed of entertainment for decades – and Nottingham can rightly claim to be the region’s capital when it comes to attracting big names.” Although acts and tastes come and go, one asset that has remained constant is Nottingham’s Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall. Well over half a million […]
Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Haden’s House Cathedral Quarter, Derby
If you were to walk towards the city centre in Derby along Queen Street, you would eventually reach St. Michael’s, an unassuming Victorian church designed by Henry Isaac Stevens of Derby and built in 1857-59 of ridged ashlar blacks to replace its Medieval predecessor, the chancel of which collapsed, rather dramatically, on a summer Sunday, […]
Grindlow & Shatton
By Maxwell & Carole Craven Having enjoyed a delightful wander around these two small hamlets, once part of the enormous parish of Hope, Carole said, ‘I can see why Pevsner forgot about them.’ The two settlements, lying on either side of the same hill (Shatton & Abney Moor) are related to each other only in […]
Will an Electric Bike work for you?
The electric bicycle market is changing rapidly. Only a few years ago most people wouldn’t have considered buying an electric bike. However with changes in ideas and the environmental benefits of buying an electric bike making sense, there is now a strong argument for owning one. For more information and some great deals on electric […]
Walk Derbyshire – Fernilee & The Goyt Valley
The South Manchester town of Stockport gets most of its water from two reservoirs filling the narrow upper reaches of the Goyt Valley near Buxton. It is hard to realise that this was a self-supporting estate with its own coal mines and small industrial estate where gun powder was made. Errwood Hall, the central building […]
Celebrity Interview – Ed Byrne
By Steve Orme Writers going back as far as Shakespeare have recognised that comedy can be found in tragedy. And that’s what chirpy Irish comedian Ed Byrne is aiming to demonstrate in his latest show. Tragedy Plus Time is about the death of Ed’s brother Paul. And Ed discovered that the show could work when […]
The Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Beaufort House, Derby
By Maxwell Craven “Some years ago, a friend who is a keen collector of local postcards, Don Gwinnett, sent me a copy of a postcard of a delightful house with Gothic windows, labelled Cowsley Fields. I loved the look of the house, and decided to try and identify it, which I may say I had […]
An Iron Bridge
Brian Spencer visits one of the industrial revolution’s longest lasting major relics Gouged out by the last ice age over 15,000 years ago, in the Industrial Revolution the Severn Gorge became a convenient means of moving coal and iron and general commerce, downstream to the burgeoning industrial areas surrounding the river estuary. Later on and […]
Celebrity Interview – John Tams
by Steve Orme When your work has been seen by an audience of 60 million people, you’ve appeared on stage with some of the finest actors in the country and you’ve made more than 80 albums, you might be forgiven for blowing your own trumpet. But not Derbyshire musician, composer and singer John Tams. Ask […]
Lost Houses of Derbyshire The Hough, Hulland
by Maxwell Craven The standing remains of the moated secondary seat of the de Bradbourne family no longer exist for me to share with you, but, like Brizlincote Old Hall, the site is marked by a well-preserved moat, and moated sites are relatively rare in Derbyshire, although many more are recorded in the sources than […]