So, I had a fun afternoon.
James and I went for a bit of ramble, up the hill and along Carr House Lane. Despite it being a very short distance from my house, it still took the best part of an hour… toddler speed is, I think I have mentioned before, glacial. So as I was waiting for the passing of an ice age, and hoping the clouds would stay away (they did), I began to think whether it would be worthwhile to have another poke around at the guide stoop to see if I might be able to dislodge some more stones.
It was. And I did.
I felt the last letter – a lowercase ‘l’… I think. Hang on, no. Is that something attached to it? an ‘e’? Ok, what next… Another ‘l’? … LEL?
I scrabbled around and moved more stones, all the while hoping the whole lot wouldn’t shift and trap my hand; nobody wants to be the guy on ‘Casualty‘ at whom the entire audience is yelling “Don’t be a moron, take your hand out of the wall *crash* See! Well you deserved that, idiot!”.
I could feel more letters, but I just couldn’t decipher them.
Then a series of thoughts… take a cast. James. Playdo!
So yes, 2 hours later, and armed with a two tubs of Playdo and a sheet of thin plastic, I returned, ready to make a ‘plaster’ cast of what I couldn’t see. I have to say, it was surprisingly effective! It took a lot of furtling and fettling, but I got about as much as I could. Enough at least. So then…
What do we have?
“…field“
It is a little hazy here, so I turned it to Black and White, and played around with contrast, etc. Anyway, here is the other version – between them, I think you can see the word “…field“. I hope!
So then, the placename ends in “…field“. So not ‘Chapel (en le Frith)’, or ‘Chunal‘.
So where then? And therein lies the problem! There are multiple places that fit the bill. If we assume that it is in the opposite direction from Glossop, and that it originally stood at the top of Whitfield Cross (see here for discussion), then it could be Moorfield, Hayfield, or even Macclesfield. If it stood somewhere other than the top of Whitfield Cross, then we might have to consider Hadfield or Padfield. Sheffield? Or even Whitfield… the stone may have travelled far and wide.
I have solved one problem – it ain’t Chapel or Chunal, but replaced it with another – which ‘…field‘ is it? My own feeling is Hayfield, but that’s based on nothing in particular, just reasoning.
No, the stone needs to come out of the wall!
And please, please, give me your comments and thoughts – I genuinely want to know what you think… because I have no idea!
I’d also like to say hello and apologise to the two people who saw me fettling in the wall and came to enquire if I was “alright” (i.e. not some sort of pervert sneaking around the back of peoples houses, nor a murder victim dumped in the bushes”). Thanks, and see… honest, I was telling the truth, I am an archaeologist. It was nice to meet you both!
RH
The Glossop Cabinet of Curiosities 
Hi Robert this is just the sort of thing I love discovering. I live in Whitfield and have been researching the recreation ground. The ornate carved stones by the stone steps with the letters GO always intrigued me and I supposed a large house had once stood there but no. It was donated (along with a library that once stood where the little play area is) by a chap called George Ollerenshaw. It was formally opened on 10th Jan 1903. I am a member of the People of Whitfield group and I’d love to get some history information boards put up round Whitfiled as there is a lot of history but most of it goes unnoticed!
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Yes indeed. The whole area is full of interesting but overlooked bits of history. I’m planning a blog post on Whitfield Rec at some stage in the very near future.
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