A short, place-holder, blog entry today. Real life is preventing me from posting as often as I would like, but I have a series of shorter posts to keep it ticking along whilst I work on a larger post. James is finally asleep, which means I get a cup of tea and some time to write this up… hastily. There’s washing up, laundry, and tidying to be done: being a 21st century househusband is not easy, and I raise my (Homburg) hat to my mother who made it all look so effortless.
So, in keeping with the post of the junction of two brooks here, I thought I’d do something similar.
Long Clough Brook starts in the valley to the west of the Grouse inn (now a house) in Chunal, and wends its way down along the valley, taking in streams and brooks as it goes. Of these, the most notable is Bray Clough Brook, which it joins at Charlestown. This is important, because at that point it becomes the boundary between Whitfield Parish (eastern bank) and Simmondley (western bank).
From Turnlee, it weaves in and out of Primrose Lane, and plays merry havoc with the boundaries – for example, the upper part of Slatelands Road is Whitfield, the lower part in Simmondley. And so it goes all the way down to the roundabout at the junction of Primrose Lane and Dinting Vale/High Street West, where the Junction Pub (now offices) stands.
Here, on the other side of the road, it gushes out into Glossop Brook.
What is interesting about this is that the boundaries of three of the ‘villages’ that make up Glossop – Whitfield, Glossop, and Simmondley – are defined by this particular junction. In the photographs above, then, the land on the left is Simmondley, on the right is Whitfield, and the land beyond is Glossop. Oh, and the whole area is Dinting Vale, technically, just to add to the confusion.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a post by me without a Bench Mark! This one on the wall just to the east of the confluence.
Except, bizarrely, I can’t find it on the map. The only Bench Mark noted is on the old Junction Inn at 433.42ft above sea level, which annoyingly I forgot to photograph. This, is not to be found anywhere. It is also subtly different from the usual mark – the arrow doesn’t join the level, and there is another, probably associated, mark carved to the right. Nope, a bit of a mystery!
It is my intention to do a proper post on each of the brooks in the area eventually, detailing all the tributaries and confluences – a summer project I think, but stick around.
As always, any and all comments are most welcome.
The Glossop Cabinet of Curiosities 