BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HOTEL AND ASHBOURNE

 

 

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The London and North-Western railway opened its line between Buxton and Ashbourne in 1899 and closed it in 1966. The line was purchased by the Peak National Park and Derbyshire County Council in 1971 and reopened as the Tissington Trail, for cyclists and walkers. The trail starts directly over the road from the Hotel.

The Station Hotel was built in 1901 with the railway being opposite the building.  (see picture below and original write up of Hotel when it was built)  Sadly as stated above the station was closed and demolished in 1966.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The railway line has now become a wonderful place to spend the day. The Tissington trail makes for a very pleasant day out and is not too strenuous to cycle along, with mostly very gentle gradients. (You might be entitled to expect this on a former railway line, but it is not true of the nearby High Peak Trail!)

Though there is little of immediate interest to see along the Trail itself, it passes very close to Dovedale, Tissington, Hartington and other attractive places, so it is easy to devise an enjoyable tour - provided you can avoid cycling back along the busy A515 road.

When is it open?

There is a National Park information centre at Tissington and cycle hire is available at Parsley Hay (tel: 01298 84493) and Mappleton (near Ashbourne - tel: 01335 343156), and this is also to be found in many of the nearby villages (eg Thorpe and Tissington). The former signal box at Hartington has been converted into a Visitor Centre and is well worth a look (open weekends and Bank Holidays from Easter to end of October and Sundays only the rest of the year).
 

How to get there

By Road: the former stations along the way have been converted into car parks - these are at Sparklow (between Monyash and Crowdecote), Parsley Hay, Hartington, Alsop en le Dale, Tissington, Thorpe and on the northern outskirts of Ashbourne. Parsley Hey, Alsop en la Dale, Tissington and Sparklow both lie just off the A515 road between Buxton and Ashbourne, and the former Hartington station lies off the B5054 road which branches off the A515 to Hartington. The Ashbourne end of the trail is as stated opposite the Hotel.

 

 

What does it cost?

No charge for the visitor centre. Some of the car parks are pay and display.


Ashbourne is the southern gateway to the Peak and lies on the boundary of the Old Red Sandstone of southern Derbyshire and the Limestone which surrounds Dovedale and the White Peak. Although the town lies a short distance away from the River Dove, it commands the approach to Dovedale.

It is a colourful and historic town, already a Royal Borough by the time of the Domesday survey. Church Street, which leads out west from the town centre, has many fine buildings, including of course St Oswald's church, the former Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (founded 1585), Owfield's Almshouses (1614-30), and The Mansion, which was the home of the Rev John Taylor from 1740 to 1787. A colourful character, Taylor was one of Dr Johnson's closest friends, and Johnson was a frequent visitor here. The town can also boast of visits by Charles I and Bonny Prince Charlie, who stayed here on his march south to Derby in 1745.
 

Probably the most famous feature of Ashbourne is its Shrove-Tide football match - an annual game of 'traditional' football, played between the 'Uppards' and 'Downards' with a leather ball stuffed with sawdust. The only rule is that the ball has to be grounded at either of the two goals, which are 3 miles apart along the valley where Ashbourne lies. Play starts at 2pm and continues until 10pm unless a goal is scored after 5pm. There are hundreds of participants and to describe it as rough would be an understatement - it is a moving brawl which continues through the roads of the town, across fields and even along the bed of the local stream. The violence involved has led to intermittent attempts to ban it, but the game has been played here for hundreds of years and fortunately it still continues.