Just four miles out of Sheffield, Hathersage is a substantial village set in the lovely shelter of The Hope Valley. St Michael's Church is located just outside the main village - a brisk walk away. Famously, the churchyard contains the grave of Robin Hood's loyal lieutenant - Little John whose cottage was close by.
Above, I spotted that lone daffodil when I was perusing the graves in the churchyard extension. I guessed that I could achieve an eye-catching image with the church spire and an old yew tree as the scenic backdrop. Though I say it myself, I think it worked.
Below, you can see the same church snapped from Baulk Lane with some crows in flight. The house on the left is the old vicarage. It was here that the writer Charlotte Bronte stayed for three weeks in the summer of 1845. She was visiting her old friend Ellen Nussey whose brother Henry was the vicar of Hathersage for three years. Charlotte and Ellen got to explore some of the nearby countryside together. It is pretty clear that those three weeks impacted upon the creation of "Jane Eyre" which was first published in October 1847.
Our spring weather has been quite perfect in recent days. On Tuesday, I decided to scratch an itch that had been in my mind for quite a while. When driving out of the city towards Fox House, I had frequently spotted a lone gatepost on the skyline and I wanted to get close to it.
Clint was duly parked by Blacka Moor Plantation and very soon I was vaulting clambering over a chained five bar gate into rough pastureland. Up the slope and I soon arrived at the finger of gritstone .
Out there, most of the drystone walls were tumbledown affairs. At the edge of one field, I spotted a large sarcen-like stone laid upon its side. It made me wonder if it had once been a standing stone, toppled by early farmers who sought to tame the wild landscape of Houndkirk Moor.
There are several significant ancient sites in the immediate area and just two hundred yards away, old maps suggest the presence of an ancient standing stone called "Fingerem Stone" but nobody knows anything about it. No sighting of it has ever been written down as far as I know. It's so tantalising.
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/cJKSeGO
