Any stones that made up the original route of the Monk's Way between Ilkeston and Dale have long since disappeared but they would have approached the abbey from the northeast. Today many footpaths abound around the village and one in particular must be close to the original route of the Monk's Way from Kirk Hallam. The approach to reach the remains of the abbey from this direction makes a pleasant walk across the fields.

Dale Abbey as it is commonly known was founded in about 1200 as the Abbey of St Mary but suffered at the hands of Henry VIII in 1538, when it was dissolved, much of the abbey being demolished. The stone from the building has been used elsewhere in the area and some fifteenth century stained glass can now be found about three miles away in the parish church at Morley. The main feature that remains at Dale today is the arch of the thirteenth century east window.

Cut into the sandstone of a nearby hillside and overlooking the village and the abbey ruins is Hermit's Cave. It was here that a Derby baker carved out a home and a chapel after having a vision of the Virgin Mary to live a life of piety, prayer and solitude, never to return to his trade.

The owner of the land, a Knight, Ralph Fitz Geremund not only allowed the hermit to stay but bestowed on him tithe money from Borrowash Mill. The hermit built a small chapel and home on the site of the present church, All Saints, parts of which date back to 1150. In about 1480 the hermitage and chapel became the infirmary and infirmary chapel for the abbey. The semi-detached church is unique in England sharing its roof with a farmhouse which at one time during its history was an inn. A connecting door said to lead from ‘salvation to damnation’ between the pub and the church was blocked in the 1820s.

Inside the church on the north wall, a painting which dates from the thirteenth or early fourteenth century depicts the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. The monks whose steps we have been following along the stones of the Monk's Way are said to have covered the walls in paintings but this is all that remains.

It is perhaps fitting that we should end our journey here in this tranquil setting. Having started at Lenton Priory near the busy streets of Nottingham our exploration took us northwards along an ancient route to the further priory sites at Beauvale and Felley with a brief glance at Newstead Abbey. Returning to Strelley on the outskirts of Nottingham, we have followed in some detail the route of the Monk's Way via Cossall Village to Ilkeston and seen the ancient stones that paved the way both in situ and at the Erewash Museum. It is here at Dale though that, for me at least, the peace and quiet still exudes the presence of those religious men of years gone by. Visitors from afar find it hard to believe that this quiet oasis lies just three miles from the suburbs of the city of Derby in one direction and even closer to a housing and industrial landscape in the opposite direction. What is not hard to understand is why that baker from Derby chose this spot to spend his life of solitude. We may never know the truth behind the origin of the stones of the Monk's Way and whether they were actually laid by monks or not, but surely, when the exploration leads us to somewhere like this, the journey has had to have been worthwhile.