Chinley

Chinley is beautifully situated with plenty of walking close at hand, and a walk up Chinley Churn or Cracken Edge gives an excellent view across the area. This small north Derbyshire village lays claim to the superb Chinley Viaducts, a masterpiece of Victorian engineering. Chinley Station was once an important railway junction; from here you would have been able to catch a train to Sheffield, Manchester, Derby or even London. However, the railway is now a shadow of its former self, with the line to London closed since 1968 and the Manchester - Sheffield service much reduced from its heyday. Nonetheless, a legacy of fine railway bridges and viaducts can be seen around Chinley, and it must have been an amazing sight in the era of the steam engine.

The most important building around Chinley is probably the Elizabethan Hall at nearby Whithough which was built by the Kyrke family in the 16th century but is now the Old Hall Inn.

Another notable residence in the area is Ford Hall which was home to Reverend William Bagshawe (known as the “Apostle of the Peak”). He served as vicar of Glossop from 1652 until his ejection in 1662 under the Act of Uniformity. Bagshawe’s successor as Nonconformist minister at Chinley, Dr James Clegg, built Chinley Chapel in 1711. Chinley Chapel, a simple Georgian building, looks deceptively like an ordinary house from the outside.