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Bradwell

‘Bradder’ as this Hope Valley village is known locally, has a long and chequered history. People have taken baths in Bradwell ever since the Romans built the fort of Narvio at nearby Brough (also see Brough).  Near the New Bath Hotel, where there is a thermal spring, the remains of a Roman Bath were found. Legend has it that Bradwell was also once a Roman slave camp, with the slaves working in the lead mines.

Later, when the Roman Empire fell just after AD400, Bradwell became a tribal border and the mysterious earthwork known as the Grey Ditch was constructed north of the village. The boundary is a massive embankment that runs from Bradwell Edge to Mick Low to protect the limestone plateau from the north.  We still don’t know who built it or when.

During the Middle Ages and later Bradwell was an important centre for lead mining, and is famous as the place where miners’ hardhats - hard, black, brimmed hats in which candles were stuck to light the way underground - were made; thus these hardhats came to be known as ‘Bradder Beavers’.

The centre of the village is a maze of narrow lanes with tiny cottages. A narrow street called Smalldale follows the line of the Roman road between Brough and Buxton.

Most buildings in Bradwell date from the 19th century. Built in 1549, Hazelbadge Hall is one of the oldest houses in the area.  Bradwell is also the birthplace of Samuel Fox, the 19th-century inventor of the modern umbrella.  His house is marked with a plaque and lies just off the main street.

A key attraction here is the massive Bagshawe Cavern, a cave reached by descending a flight of 98 steps through an old lead mine. It was named after Sir William Bagshawe, who owned the land when it was discovered in 1806 by lead miners. For the more adventurous, caving trips are available.

On the Saturday before the first Monday in August, four wells are dressed in the village. Although wells were dressed even at the turn of the 20th century, the present custom dates back only to 1949, when the Bowling Green Well was dressed during Small Dale Wakes. The village has its own particular method for making the colourful screens, section by section, so that the clay does not dry out.