Part 05 - Field Row to Bridge Street
w/e 02 June 2013
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
Picking up the walk at the Nail Shop on Joseph Street,
the route continues into Field Row before doubling back to follow
the whole length of Joseph Street to Crown Terrace and Bridge
Street.
Crossing Green Lane at the top of Joseph Street we paused only
to admire the carefully tended garden in front of one of the
terraced houses on Field Row before continuing to the rail topped
wall at the end of the terrace.
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A notice board adorns the gate and a smaller plaque is fixed
to the railings at the Field Row Unitarian Chapel.
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As well
as giving details about the services held each month, the notice
board also includes information about the Unitarian Churches
both locally and nationally plus a little of the history of this
chapel showing that the present building was another that benefited
from the industrialist Jedediah Strutt.
The smaller plaque fixed to the railings and funded by the Herbert
Strutt Charity is another on Beth's Poetry Trail. We saw another
on the Trail in the Riverside Gardens but this one contains a
verse by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and is titled "To Nature".
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Additional information in the leaflet describing the walk reveals
that the chapel was extended on both sides early in the nineteenth
century and also points out the "fine external, cantilevered
staircase" that is the only access to the upper gallery
in the chapel. The padlocked gate prevented any closer inspection
of the staircase or of the chapel itself which contains several
members of the Strutt family in the catacomb below the building.
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Returning down Field Row and across Green Lane the route now
continues back into Joseph Street and past the Nail Shop to the
alley through to George Street by which we arrived in the previous
part.
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Carrying on past the alley and about two thirds of the way down
Joseph Street is another of the eleven bridges in a one mile
stretch of the railway that passes through Belper. From it to
the north, is the adjacent bridge on George Street beneath which
the foot of a third bridge, this one on William Street, can just
be seen. Beyond that the rooftops of Long Row are visible where
yet another bridge was constructed and which we crossed earlier
in this walk.
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In the other direction to the south, the bridge visible carries
Field Lane over the line but looking this way also provides a
good view of the actual construction of the stone-lined railway
cutting that was built in 1838. I still marvel at the pioneers
of the Industrial Revolution who constructed railways and canals
without the aid of modern technology and equipment. Their work
has really stood the test of time.
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There's another long narrow alley adjacent to the cutting through
to Field Lane (left above) and further down on the opposite side
of Joseph Street, a shorter one (right) that leads through to
George Street.
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At the bottom of Joseph Street where it turns to become Cluster
Road, a gap in the wall leads through to Crown Terrace which
contains Grade II listed cottages in the heart of Belper's conservation
area.
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Walking through Crown Terrace gives access to Bridge Street and
a right turn will lead back to Strutt's Mills but before we reach
there we'll view some more historical buildings in the final
part of the walk.
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