Tideswell

[poliphilo]

The Derbyshire Peak District is right on our doorstop but feels like it belongs in another time zone. Our part of Lancashire is raw and hard and the Peak District is soft and mellow; even the light is different. We often pass through it on the way to somewhere else but hardly ever think of visiting it for its own sake. It's as if we can't quite believe it's there.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Tideswell, in the heart of the Peak. The round trip (which included some meandering) clocked up at 70 miles.

The locals call the place Tidza and enjoy their hillbilly reputation. They call themselves Sawyeds- in honour of the Tideswell farmer who (according to legend) freed a cow that got stuck in a fence by sawing its head off. 

The Church of St John the Baptist is mainly 14th century. It's so big and handsome it gets advertised as the cathedral of the Peak. it has a lot of very distinctive woodwork and some fine medieval tombs. The wealth that was once sloshing around came from lead mining. Now this is hiking country. The cafe where we went for tea was full of people in thick woolly jumpers and walking shoes.  The local paper we read while we ate had an article about UFO sightings- another local speciality. 

If you're young and hip it must be hell having to live here.  As we wandered round we kept bumping into a solitary, emo  hoodie. You can just make him out in the first of the pictures, sitting next to the signboard, hood up, eyes downcast. 

The final picture is of longtime Tidsa residents, Sir Thurstan and Lady Margaret de Bower.

Comments

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

I remember visiting Boston for the first time a couple of summers ago, and while there I walked through a Revolutionary-era graveyard just dumbstruck. tombstones from the 18th century and all that, right in the middle of a 21st century city that flowed around it. I suppose if you live there you get used to it, but I can't imagine living in a town with history like that. So if I feel that way about Boston, you can imagine what these shots do to me. If I ever moved to such a town I'd probably spend the first year just gaping at churchyards alone.

Also, LOL at the idea of British hillbillies. :P

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Whitman which is about 20 miles form Boston and there is - or was a revolutionary war grave section that I was fascinated by as a kid - before I left the US of A for Europe.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

I can imagine. Or rather, try to, since I grew up in Phoenix where buildings from the 1940's are considered ancient.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't think one does ever get used to it. At least, I don't. I enter a church like this and find it's full of medieval monuments and I go into raptures.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

Your photographs and travel commentaries are wonderful: I have long been fascinated by this area between England and Wales and some day soon I am going to visit so Thank you for the continued reminders of my plan.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you enjoy them.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

As in, "Miller's Dale for Tideswell"?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes.

I hadn't realised they'd put it in a song.

[momof2girls.livejournal.com]

I particularly like the second and third pictures.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The last is my favourite. My equipment is rudimentary- I don't have a tripod and I hate using flash, so- though I take a lot of interior shots like this very few of them are good enough to post. When one of them works- and works so well- I'm over the moon.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

I so envy your travels and your photographic ability! I apparently LOVE the British Isles.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Aren´t medieval tombs amazing? The knight, all decked out in full regalia with his lady by his side. Did these have dogs laying at their feet? Wonderful picture!

The graveyard is lovely.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The knight had a lion and the lady had a lap-dog (I think, but it was badly damaged).

[fickleasever.livejournal.com]

I like your photos and I like your journal. I've added you. We have some friends in common in our lists, too. I surfed in, originally, from some of your comments in their journals.
:)

"If you're young and hip it must be hell having to live here."

That reminds me... there's a website called... I think... the Knowhere Guide. It was started by kids for kids and was where to find the best skateboard sites around the UK. But it has now become a great place to discover where to go - you just have to see which places the kids hate! Wherever they're bored, is a place I know I will like.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Hi, very pleased to meet you.

I'll have to check out the Knowhere Guide. Sounds like fun.