What to See in England
By Gordon Home

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Public Domain Books

Dovedale

=How to get there.=–Train from Euston. L. and N.W. Railway. =Nearest Station.=–Thorpe Cloud, at the south end of Dovedale. =Distance from London.=–152 miles. =Average Time.=–About 4 hours.

                     1st      2nd      3rd
=Fares.=–Single  20s.  6d.   ...   12s. 1-1/2d.
          Return  39s. 10d.   ...      ...

=Accommodation Obtainable.=–"Izaak Walton Hotel,” at Ham;
  “The Peveril Hotel,” near Thorpe; “Green Man,” “White Hart,"
  etc., at Ashbourne.
=Alternative Routes.=–Train from St. Pancras. Midland Railway
  to Ashbourne, thence by coach; or train from King’s Cross,
  Great Northern Railway.

Dovedale is the apt name given to the valley of the Dove, a river rising on the borders of Derby and Stafford, near Buxton and Axe Edge Hill, and, after a course of 45 miles, joining the Trent at Newton Solney. The portion of its course chiefly associated with the name begins half a mile from the village of Thorpe, which may be reached from Ashbourne, the nearest station, by coach. From Thorpe the river is approached by a stony declivity on the east of Thorpe Cloud.

The footpath is throughout on the Derbyshire side of the stream, and may be reached from the Staffordshire side either by crossing the narrow bridge or some stepping-stones at Thorpe Cloud. For some distance after entering the valley the footpath follows the margin of the river, whose banks are a mass of magnificent foliage, intermixed with a tangle of brambles, honeysuckle, and wild roses. On the Staffordshire bank, a little further up, the foliage suddenly changes to a mass of sheer cliff, changing again to a mass of rifted rocks, divided into curious turret-like terminations. This striking formation is known as Dovedale Church, and is accompanied on the Derbyshire side by a number of rocks which appear from below to terminate in sharp pinnacles, and have been named “Tissington Spires,” from the village close by. About 200 yards beyond the “Church,” on the Derbyshire bank, is the entrance to Reynard’s Cave, a huge cavern with an entrance 40 feet high by 20 wide, from which the view over the dale is superb.

Throughout its whole length of nearly 3 miles the Dovedale scenery is the extraordinary mixture of ruggedness and soft beauty, which makes it unequalled, in its particular style, in the kingdom.

Dovedale is associated with the name of Izaak Walton and his friend Charles Cotton, the poet.

[Illustration: Photochrom Co., Ltd. TISSINGTON SPIRES, DOVEDALE.]

Continue...

Preface  •  Ham House and Petersham  •  Walton-On-Thames (scold’s Bridle)  •  Harrow  •  Holwood House, Keston  •  Chigwell, Essex  •  Waltham Abbey and Cross  •  Downe  •  Epsom: Its Races and Its Salts  •  Epping Forest  •  Hampton Court  •  Rye House, Broxbourne  •  Hatfield House, Herts  •  Runnymead, the Signing of Magna Charta  •  The Oldest Brass in England  •  St. Albans  •  Stoke Poges Church, Bucks  •  Windsor  •  Jordans and William Penn  •  Knole House and Sevenoaks  •  Greenstead Church  •  Chalfont St. Giles  •  Westerham  •  Guildford, Surrey  •  Gad’s Hill  •  Ightham Mote, Kent  •  Penshurst  •  St. Michael’s Mount and Marazion  •  Rochester Cathedral  •  Tunbridge Wells  •  The Quintain Post At Offham and Malling Abbey  •  Eversley  •  Farnham, Surrey  •  Hindhead, Surrey  •  Shottermill  •  Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex  •  Chawton the Home of Jane Austen  •  Selborne  •  Elstow  •  Lewes, Sussex  •  Bodiam Castle, Sussex  •  Colchester, Essex  •  Layer Marney  •  Battle Abbey  •  Cambridge  •  Arundel Castle  •  Olney, Bucks  •  Wantage and the Country of Alfred the Great  •  Canterbury and Its Cathedral  •  Reculvers  •  Oxford  •  Midhurst  •  Pevensey Castle  •  Savernake Forest  •  Ely Cathedral  •  St. Ives, Huntingdonshire  •  Winchelsea and Rye  •  Blenheim Palace  •  Peterborough Cathedral and Crowland  •  Peterborough  •  Southampton  •  Helmingham Hall  •  Stonehenge, Wiltshire  •  Netley Abbey  •  Salisbury and Its Cathedral  •  Sandwich, Kent  •  New Forest, Hampshire  •  Osborne House  •  Carisbrooke Castle  •  Lutterworth  •  Compton Wynyates  •  Kenilworth Castle  •  Belvoir Castle  •  Bath  •  Boston and the Pilgrim Fathers  •  Warwick  •  Gloucester and Its Cathedral  •  Norfolk Broads  •  Norwich Cathedral  •  Lichfield  •  Sherborne and Its Abbey Church  •  Newark  •  Wells and Its Cathedral  •  Stratford-On-Avon  •  Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk  •  Lulworth Cove, Dorsetshire  •  Corfe Castle  •  Lincoln and Its Cathedral  •  Somerset, the Birthplace of Tennyson  •  Glastonbury Abbey  •  Walsingham, Norfolk  •  Cheddar Caves, Cheddar, Somerset  •  Newstead Abbey  •  The Wessex of Thomas Hardy’s Romances  •  Tintern Abbey  •  Chesterfield, Derbyshire  •  Dukeries  •  Haddon Hall, Derbyshire  •  The Isle of Athelney, and Sedgemoor  •  Raglan Castle  •  Dovedale  •  Wellington and the Wrekin, Shropshire  •  Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop  •  Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire  •  Ludlow and Its Castle  •  Shrewsbury  •  Buxton and the Peak District  •  Tewkesbury  •  Exeter and Its Cathedral  •  Market Drayton, Salop  •  Chester  •  Exmoor  •  Knutsford  •  Torr Steps On the Barle, Somerset  •  Cleeve Abbey, Somerset  •  Hawarden  •  York Minster  •  Coxwold, Yorkshire  •  Llangollen and Valle Crucis Abbey  •  Knaresborough, Dripping Well  •  Fountains Abbey  •  Ripon Cathedral  •  Dartmoor  •  Haworth  •  Rievaulx Abbey  •  Brixham, Devon  •  Conway Castle  •  The Doone Valley, Exmoor  •  Llandovery, South Wales  •  Dartmouth, Devon  •  Richmond, Yorkshire  •  Tintagel  •  Whitby  •  Carnarvon Castle  •  Plymouth  •  Durham and Its Cathedral  •  Raby Castle, Durham  •  Snowdon  •  Harlech Castle  •  Grasmere and Rydal Mount  •  The Lake District  •  St. Davids Cathedral  •  Furness Abbey, Lancashire  •  Monkwearmouth, Near Jarrow  •  The Isle of Man  •  Brantwood  •  Fowey  •  Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall  •  The Lake District  •  Keswick  •  Alnwick Castle  •  Lanercost Priory, Cumberland  •  Lanercost Priory and Stepping-Stones.]  •  St. Ives, Cornwall  •  Bamborough Castle, Northumberland

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What to see in England;: A guide to places of historic interest, natural beauty or literary association,
By Gordon Home
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