River Wye

The River Wye is 22 miles long. Its source is on Axe Edge Moor and flows underground through Poole’s Cavern, through the Pavilion Gardens and then flows east through Wye Valley, meeting the River Derwent at Rowsley. The Wye was the boundary between The Royal Forest of the Peak and Derbyshire. Fairfield was in the Forest and Buxton outside. Where the river drops at Morrison end of Ashwood Park Henry III granted permission for a mill to be built. This replaced an illegally sited mill at Wormhill where Buxton folk had taken their corn to be ground. When the 5th Duke of Devonshire built The Crescent between 1780 and 1784 he culverted the river to pass beneath the building, and more recently it has been culverted again to pass beneath the Spring Gardens shopping centre. Below Buxton it starts to grow into a sizeable river running through a series of gorges, often deep and narrow, tree lined in places as in Ashwood Dale, with steep cliffs raring up from the sides of the valley as in Cheedale. The Wye passes several mills, in Miller’s Dale before entering Monsal Dale where the valley widens out, though remains steep sided. At the village of Ashford in-the-Water, the Wye passes beneath the ancient Sheep Wash Bridge. It was originally a medieval packhorse bridge and it is only until recently, that sheep were washed here prior to shearing. The river Wye widens into a broad river valley leading to Bakewell where it passes beneath an 13th century bridge with 5 gothic arches before passing Haddon Hall and joining the river Lathkill before flowing on to Rowsley

Did you know?

Sometimes the water looks a bright orange. This is the result of water flowing through old underground mine workings and washing sediment from the rocks.