Derwent Edge - In search of Lost Lad with Doncaster Ramblers

Bob and Brian taking in the view with a cuppa

We soon stopped to admire the views before proceeding along the Edge towards the Wheel Stones and White Tor rock formations.

The Edge curved around to the north as we by-passed the famous Salt Cellar and on to Dove Stone, where we stopped for lunch.

Onwards, with the distinctive Cakes of Bread rock formations on our right we stopped briefly at Lost Lad. Here, Diane told us the improbable

story that gives the place its name before we started descending from the Edge.

On lower ground Ladybower came into view once more, pause for more photos and then we continued our downward walk to the edge of the reservoir. We paused once more, this time close to the site of the ‘drowned’ village of Derwent, sacrificed, in 1944, for the building of the dams and

the reservoir.

After a lovely and peaceful pause here we continued on the track alongside the reservoir back to the main road and then along to the Ladybower Inn for refreshments before the final mile along a track and to the lay-by. This was a lovely walk, with thanks to Diane for planning and leading it and to Angela for efficient back-marking.

Places of interest

The lurid name of Cutthroat Bridge on the A57 out of Sheffield is justly deserved. Around 400 years ago a man was discovered in Highshaw Clough (locally pronounced Eashaw Clough) with his throat cut. A local man, Robert Ridge along with two others took the victim to Bamford Hall where he dies two days later. In more recent times (December 1995) a Sheffield man Anthony Antoniou and two accomplices beheaded Antoniou’s own stepfather Walter McCarthy then dumped the body at Cutthroat Bridge and burying the head in Bedfordshire. Antoniou was the lover of pop singer Gabrielle, the two have a child together.

Derwent Edge is a Millstone Grit escarpment that lies above the Upper Derwent Valley in the Peak District National Park in the English county of Derbyshire. An Ordnance Survey column marks the highest point of the Edge at Back Tor (538 metres, 1765 feet).[1] North of Back Tor the edge extends into Howden Edge and enters the county of South Yorkshire.

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Remember while out observe the Countryside Code and give way to other walkers.