Peak Experience

Stoke Hall  A headless ghost

 

Much-haunted Stoke Hall is now a private home near the B6001.  It was built in 1755 on the banks of the River Derwent, and was once the residence of the Earls of Bradford.

 

Several visitors have seen the headless ghost.  One lady in the 1880s saw late at night, ‘a lady in a beautiful dress coming down the staircase’.  She had no head and disappeared as the watcher screamed and fell.

 

Local people said a skull haunted the upper storey of the hall, and they never went there alone after dark.

A former member of Stoke staff spoke of an heiress to the property being murdered in the hall.  She told of indelible bloodstains and a haunted room where no one ever slept.  Even today people hear mysterious bells and the burglar alarm triggers without any explanation being found.

The headless statue of Fair Flora, the Greek Goddesss of Flowers, stands on a lonely hillside overlooking Grindleford.  It has attracted many stories of murder and mystery!

 

The statue came from nearby Stoke Hall, once the home of the Earls of Bradford.  It was a gift from Chatsworth, from the Duke to a member of the Bridgeman family . . .  or to a Mrs Taylor who had admired it when visiting. However, it brought bad luck for the recipient family, who moved it from the garden to its current location north of the hall.

One story says the statue is a memorial to a dead girl.  She was either drowned in the Derwent, while eloping with her lover across the stepping stones above Leadmill Bridge, or murdered by gypsies or by her jealous lover.

 

Another version tells how a young lady at Stoke Hall fell in love with a youth.  Her parents did not approve and locked her in a room, but she escaped with her lover.  They reached the site of the statue when the girl was shot dead, and the marble figure was placed there as a memorial.

A ballad entitled ‘Astrologer’s Daughter’, by J. Castle Hall, links the statue to a gypsy tale about an astrologer and his daughter living in a lonely cottage.  Victor, the son of a local squire, fell in love with a girl, and they married just before he joined the army.  He did not return for a long time.  Flora, worried by his long absence, died leaving a baby daughter.  An old astrologer really did live near Eyam, not far away.

A few hundred yards from Stoke Hall, near the banks of the river, are the ruins of a cottage haunted by Old Ned. He was a carrier, and is said to have hanged himself there.  His ghost is seen at midnight tearing off branches from the trees, and disappearing over the ruin walls.

 

One of the Peak District's highwaymen  Grindleford Bridge

 

Grindleford bridge is connected to a very famous highwayman who robbed travellers in the Hope Valley during the reign of Charles II.  Bold Nevison, or Swift Nick Nevison, was a Robin Hood type figure who asked for money from rich people and gave most of it to the poor.  There is a verse from a contemporary ballad about him.

 

One tale says he met a Padley farmer who had just sold some cattle at Bakewell market, to pay his rent.  They had a drink together and ‘coincidentally’ went the same way home, riding as far as Stoke.  There Bold Nevison drew his pistol and demanded the money.  The farmer pleaded that if he didn’t pay the rent, his family would be made homeless.  But Nevison took it.  At midnight the day before rent day, the farmer heard two shots from Grindleford bridge, which was guarded by a night watchman.  He heard hoofbeats and breaking glass.  Below the smashed window he found a bag containing the stolen money and an extra guinea!

 

Nevison was captured and executed at York on 4 May 1684.

 

Padley Chapel  Padley Chapel the Martyrs Chapel

 

Nicholas Garlick suffered this gruesome death sentence for preaching Roman Catholic sermons during the Protestant persecutions of the 1500s.  His death is commemorated with a stained-glass window in Padley Chapel, where he preached.  There were several instances in Derbyshire of this horrific punishment. Nicholas, Richard Sympson and a third priest were three of the early convictions in 1588.

 

This circular PDF self-guided trail takes you to a historic quarry, through ancient woodland and a medieval packhorse route, before returning to Grindleford Station.

 

Children going with you? Download the children's activity sheet  for 7 - 9 year olds to discover more geological facts on the way.

 

Padley Chapel sits on the left of the B6521 just after Grindleford bridge.

 

Grindleford is on the Hope Valley railway line between Sheffield and Manchester.  To plan your journey, visit the National Rail website or ring National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950.  Further information about bus services to Grindleford can be found by calling Traveline on 0871 200 2233 or visiting Traveline.