Pictures of the Past : The Castle Rock, Stoney Middleton

The card is in excellent condition (hasn't been digitally enhanced!) It is dated around 1905, and contains the following message on the reverse:-

“My dear Elsie, So sorry to hear you have been bad - but hope you are better now & that the journey home has done you no harm.”

[Ed: by ‘bad’ she means ‘ill’, rather than ‘naughty’, as ‘in bed, badly’]

The signature is not readable, but it is addressed to Miss Miller, Colwyn House, Stalybridge; and the postmark is DERBY 8.45 PM AU 21, and below it 05 (August 21st 1905).

This scene is much changed today, with trees covering the Castle Rock so that it's no longer visible as such, and what buildings remaining on the site being in a ruined state. It is on the north east corner of where Eyam Dale (B6521) meets Stoney Middleton Dale (A623), and at the time of the photograph the junction was marked by a large grassy triangle (now a standard ‘T’ junction).

One of the buildings on this site was the Ball Inn. When it closed (before I was born!), its licence was taken up by the Royal Oak in Eyam.

(Information provided by Rosemary Lockie)