Summary
A section of Doctor's Gate Road (see 60534*0 for Group Record & full route from Fulwood Stile Farm (SK1710 8490) to the Ford at Upper Ashop (SK1410 8940).
NB: Not all of this section of the route is on NT owned land - only stretches SK1425 8937 to SK 1582 8789 and then SK 1610 8743 to SK 1646 8681 are.
Identification Images (0)
Monument Types
- ROAD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
- TRACKWAY (Medieval to Early 21st century - 1066 AD to 2050 AD)
Description
[1] Trackway including part of the 'Doctor’s Gate' Hope to Glossop Packhorse Route (Derbys. SMR 8249)
A trackway crossing the Woodlands Valley and running north along Alport Dale to join another trackway (61319) approximately 300 metres south of Alport Farm. South of the River Ashop it is a terraced trackway with intermittent stone revetments and passes upper Ashop Farm. It crosses the river via a ford which was concreted probably in the 1920s to service the nearby dam (61309). For the rest of its length, the track is a well-defined hollow-way. It is braided into a number of different routes around the southern end of Alport Dale.
Both the Snake Road, built in 1821 (feature 0:5) and the terraced trackway leading up Alport Dale (61319) overlie and are later than this trackway. It is also overlain by field walls in the dale, some of which closely follow its line. The track is shown as the only route along the dale in 1808 (Potter 1808). The terraced trackway replaced this hollow-way between 1836 and 1840 (Sanderson 1836; Ordnance Survey 1840).
The part of the track in the Woodlands valley, between Upper Ashop farm and the point at which it is overlain by the Alport Dale terraced track (61319), is part of a major valley through-route. First recorded in 1627 as "Docto Talbotes Gate", it is still known as "Doctor's Gate" (Cameron 1959). It was the pack horse route which was replaced by the turnpike in 1821 (Radley and Penny 1972; Dodd and Dodd 1980). It is also reputed to be a Roman road joining the forts at Brough and Glossop (Wroe 1982). No evidence for its Roman antiquity has been discovered. Excavations along its route south of Crookstone, outside the survey area, have found metalling (Wroe 1982), but this is in no way conclusive evidence for a Roman date.
References
- SZE1141 - Article in serial: A Faulkner Taylor. 1988. Pathways of the Forgotten, Country Walking, August 1988.
- SZY210 - National Trust Report: WJ Bevan. 1994. Alport Dale, Hope Woodlands, Derbyshire. Archaeological survey 1994. Feature 5.
Designations
None Recorded
Other Statuses and References
- HER/SMR Reference (External): 8249
- National Monuments Record Reference: Derbyshire SMR8249
- National Park
Associated Events
- ENA1137 - Field Survey, Alport Dale, Archaeological Survey 1994, Alport Height
Associated Finds
None Recorded
Related Records
- Related to: Part of Doctor's Gate Road, Summit Section, Hope Woodlands (Routeway) - 60534*4 / MNA112132
- Related to: Doctor's Gate Road (Group Record), Hope Woodlands (Routeway) - 60534*0 / MNA112649