Review of ‘Tideswell Tracks’, by Eric Heaf

This review was published originally in The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper, on 20th December 1999. Please note this volume is now sadly out of print.

TIDESWELL TRACKS by Eric Heaf Published Locally (1999) Despite the title this is definitely not another guide for walkers. It is the result of three years' research into seven medieval tracks across the White Peak north of the River Wye. Over half of the courses of the route are now lost with only disjointed sections still in use. Two of the route have never been documented before. All the findings are based on the study of original documents in the Derbyshire Records Office and Sheffield City Archives and elsewhere, backed up by a study of the landscape. The most significant find is the precise location of the 'Saltersford' at Tideswell. Consequently a previously unknown packhorse way from Fairfield to Curbar Gap has been mapped.

Also, this pamphlet contains interesting notes on the different types of medieval travellers and how they chose the routes over the characteristic topography of the White Peak. The Romano-British settlement in Monksdale is re-surveyed because it was crossed by an ancient packhorse way.

This work will appeal to anyone who is interested in the limestone landscape and the way travellers have crossed it during centuries past. There are seven purpose drawn maps and many Grid References. With the 2½ inch (1:25,000) Ordnance Map of the White Peak Area this will make fascinating armchair study during the winter months.