Monument record MDR14096 - Linear earthwork, southeast of Watford Wood, Buxton

A linear, slightly curving earthwork is marked on the 1st edition 25" OS map of c. 1880. It comprises a cutting at its northern end and an embankment at its southern end. (1) The earthwork is still visible on modern OS maps and aerial photographs. The southern tip runs in to what is now Cavendish Golf Course. The northern end is covered in scrub. (2-3) The earthwork appears much like a railway cutting and embankment. It seems likely that it relates to the unfinished railway cutting and embankments further to the northwest [see SMR 31695]. There is evidence to suggest that this railway cutting may have been an early trial carried out without official sanction, with the final line being laid elsewhere. (4)