Ramblers Association - Derbyshire Dales Group

Medieval Manifold

If you stand on the steep slopes of Bunster Hill and look south west, you will see the lower Manifold valley as the river approaches its junction with the Dove.  The view looks unchanged for centuries, but a close examination reveals a different story.  If you look carefully, you can see a Deserted Medieval Village (or DMV), the site of a monastic grange, and an estate village created in the 19th Century.

To the west can be seen the site of Throwley medieval village, near the remains of Throwley Old Hall. As a result of 14th Century climate change and reduced population following the plague, many estates turned their pastureland to sheep and, later, cleared the remaining houses to provide deer parks for the owners’ grand new halls.  The result was DMVs.  Around Throwley can be seen the ridge and furrows, lynchets, enclosure banks and bell pits for lead mining, all associated with a once thriving village.  Throwley Hall is said to have been the local centre for a group of 17th Century non-conformists known as the Muggletonians. This group was one of the many sects that arose during the social upheaval of the English Civil War. They believed that the only law was that of the divine spirit and that the soul died with the body. Their aim was to create heaven on earth rather than to prepare for the afterlife (early communism?).  They did not believe in formal church services and thought an alehouse as suitable for a religious meeting as a church.  Muggletonians preferred isolation and Throwley would have suited their purposes well. 

In the centre of the view, alongside the valley of Musden Wood lies the platform of Musden Grange and its associated barn.  Henry II realised the value of wool to the economy and encouraged Monasteries to set up sheep farms on the remote upland areas. These Granges were run by lay brothers and proved to be a major source of wealth for the parent Abbeys.  Musden Grange belonged to Croxden Abbey, a Cistercian Abbey near Rochester.

To the south of Bunster Hill lies the estate village of Ilam, which was originally next to the Church and whose well can still be seen in the parkland in front of Ilam Hall. However, when the estate was bought by Watts-Russell in the 19th Century, he remodelled the hall, and moved the road and village to improve his view.  Watts-Russell thought the setting worthy of Switzerland and asked that the new cottages and school should look Swiss.  You can decide for yourself whether his architect met the design brief. 

Next time you admire the view from Bunster Hill, imagine how different it would have looked in medieval times. More information is available from Staffordshire Moorlands District Council publish 2 booklets:  John Higgins’ “The Manifold Guide” and Faith Cleverdon’s “Calton, Throwley and Musden Grange”.

Geof Cole