Part of Doctor's Gate Road, Summit Section, Hope Woodlands

Summary

Paved section of Doctor's Gate Road heading northwest from the A57 and Doctors Gate Culvert (SK0960 9288) to the path summit (SK 0890 9329).

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Monument Types

Description

[1] A paved section of Doctor's Gate Road running along a natural gully. The path comprises rounded gritstone slabs set into the ground on end and bordered by narrower, sharp-cornered, slabs standing slightly proud of the path itself. The paved path continues to the north-west and follows a line which eventually leads to Glossop. To the south-east the paving disappears as the path approaches a boggy confluence of gullies above a clough. The line of the trackway cannot be traced further east but stone revetment and wall footings may have been built to support the route as it approached a clough. The projected line of the trackway would join it with the present Snake Pass. It is possible that the projected section was destroyed by the builders of the turnpike to deter travellers from using the packhorse route to avoid paying tolls.

[2] Bevan surveyed the site in 2000, with the aim of recording the detail of the earthwork and kerbing and assessing the extent of damage via erosion where the monument is crossed by the Pennine Way. The paved pathway was constructed from approximately rectangular gritstone blocks, laid slab on edge, perpendicular to the axis of the routeway itself. This construction technique can be observed in an exposed section of the trackway to the west of the Pennine Way. Here it can be seen that the blocks are slightly angled to partly rest on top of one another. This construction technique has created a very robust surface, approximately 1m wide and edged by further edge-set gritstone blocks, narrower and longer than the surface blocks. To either side are narrow shallow drainage ditched approximately 0.5m wide and 0.2m deep. The section surveyed runs along a dike, similar to Devil's Dike (pref ref 60677*0), approximately 10 wide at the base, 30m wide at the top and 2m deep. This feature cuts across the shoulder of the moor and may have been deliberately constructed, possibly to help level the line of the routeway, aid drainage of the moor or as a land boundary and to give firm footing for the construction.

Part of the course of an old trackway believed to have originated in roman times as a link between the forts at Brough on Noe and Glossop. The route continued in use until the C19th when much of the traffic switched to the new turnpike road (A57). The paved section at the Snake summit, which lies within an artificial cutting through the peat to the firmer ground, probably dates from the improvements carried out by Dr John Talbot in the late C15/ early C16. In common with many packhorse tracks in the Peak District only the difficult stretch is fully paved where the track crosses the blanket bog at the summit. The paving is only about 1m wide and is made from blocks of local gritstone set on edge for greatest stability with a kerb of slabs on the edge along both sides. The section of the track is in remarkably good condition. The side ditches have been cleaned in the recent past and drainage pipes inserted beneath the paved surface at intervals at act as culverts. There is however servere erosion of the paved surface and surroundings at the property boundary where the Pennine Way footpath crosses the track. The only other disturbance to the line of the track noted was at SK 094 931 (approx.) where a 9m stretch of the paving has had the overlaying turf removed, presumably to confirm the line of the road here. For further details concerning Doctor's gate road refer to the property file at Cirencester, and sites under the group reference.

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