Monument record MDR10622 - Sheffield (Ringinglow) to Buxton Turnpike Road, High Peak and Derbyshire Dales

In 1758 the cross-country road from Sheffield to Buxton was turnpiked, with a view to improving through traffic to Manchester. The road crossed the county boundary into Derbyshire near Barbers Field Cupola, dropped down to Grindleford Bridge, climbed steeply up the Sir William Hill, continued past the important group of lead mines on Eyam Edge, clung to the narrow ridge overlooking the moors on every side towards Hucklow, dropped to Tideswell and continued forward through Fairfield to Buxton. The Sheffield promoters of the turnpike, with their minds fixed on the through traffic to Manchester, naturally wished the road to be as straight as possible across Tideswell Moor. To achieve this, they planned to avoid Tideswell itself and to route the road through Wheston. However opposition from the local gentry, who had no wish to see Tideswell left a rural backwater, was so strong that the Turnpike Trust was forced to re-route the road into Tideswell itself, so that the turnpike had to run up and down Monksdale, with particularly atrocious gradients. (1) The Sheffield to Buxton turnpike road dates from 1758. Later modifications were made to sections of the original route in 1795, 1810 and 1812. (2)