Simon English
England Revisited

On a telegraph pole in a field N.W. of Moor Farm near Winster. 3 miles west of Matlock.

On the same electricity 1968 pole as I put the flag in 1971. One of the rusty pins is still there. This is in a landscape criss-crossed with electricity poles singly or in pairs, some but not all coming from the electricity substation in the valley below.

Visually the landscape is unchanged except the rough surface limestone walls that divided the fields were completely exposed but now hawthorn bushes have grown up in their shelter which gives the view a very slightly more wooded look. In a few places the walls have collapsed, and through the gaps the resident cows can get from one small field to another. These are part of a milking herd at a time when so many farms have had to get out of dairy.

In the distance, on the other side of the valley, the limestone quarry has over the years grown considerably. Visually it dominates the view however the operators have reduced the impression by planting trees on worked out sections above current workings. This explains the new wood.

Nearby the fields are pockmarked with the abandoned shafts to 17th and 18th century lead mines. The nearby village of Winster was once made prosperous by lead mining, a trade that went back to Roman times. This was aided by the existence ancient trade routes. An important one, the Portway, runs half a mile to the north, and is now used by a new long distance footpath – The Limestone Way.

The lead miners were also farmers, or the farmers also mined lead, either way the fields are also dotted with the walls of now roofless little barns. At the bottom of the field at point 28 the sycamore trees still grow out of the ruins of one such wall stead. The new feature here, it seems to be, is the use of some of the stone from this ruin to build or repair a stone lined dew pond next to it. This would be a real necessity in this area where water is scarce before mains water must have been bought in.
Points 36, 37 & 38