Seventeen ish walkers and one dog met on Smithy Brook Road in Renishaw. This was a hastily arranged change to our meeting point owing to resurfacing of the Trans Pennine Trail car park.
We set off across the fields to Spinkhill. Jacqui, our leader, had told us that the name ‘Spink’ in the Derbyshire dialect is any bird of the finch family, especially the Chaffinch (Chaffinch Hill- Spinkhill). At the end of Parkhall Lane we reached Park Hall. Park Hall originally dates back to 1656 and was first owned by the Pole family who were prominent figures in the history and church politics of the local area at this time. The building began as a private residence, until it was converted to a Residential Country Club and then back to a private residence. Park Hall’s other claim to fame is that The Beatles stayed there after performing at Sheffield City Hall on November 9, 1964. They arrived by helicopter and landed on the hotel lawn
Our next stop was in the village of Barlborough where we stopped for coffee and some of our group visited the Heritage and Visitors’ Centre. Before leaving the village we looked at the memorial arch, erected in 1869 by William Hatfield de Rodes (of Barlborough Hall) in memory of his wife Sophia Felicite.
After walking up Ward Lane we reached the impressive Barlborough Hall Preparatory School, formerly Barlborough Hall.
Continuing on, we took the bridge over the motorway and passed Mount St Mary’s School. We were now almost back and taking the track across the Trans Pennine Way and on to the Cuckoo Way brought us to our start point in the industrial estate.
Many thanks to Jacqui for leading us round and showing us parts of the area that many of us were not familiar with.
