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Sfjallcross antr ¥cavtrslc£ ^alls.* 



i. 



SHALLCROSS, WHALEY BRIDGE. 



By Ernest Gunson. 



ROM the old coach road through Taxal Valley, lead- 

 ing from Buxton to Manchester, and probably a 

 relic of Roman days, there branches a by-lane which 

 was originally a pack-horse way to the ancient Shall- 

 cross Hall. This would seem to have faced the approach on 

 a site that had been levelled by terracing the sloping ground, 

 thus allowing the road to lead in a straight line to the door 

 of the hall. On this site now stands an eighteenth century barn, 

 but that it was originally occupied when the road was made is 

 proved by the fact that the road turns abruptly to the left and 

 again to the right to avoid and pass round the hall, before it 

 is continued down the hillside to the River Goyt, where there 

 was a ford which is still usable to-day for carts, and where 

 stepping-stones, originally, no doubt, allowed foot passengers 

 to cross dryshod. Near the ford is still to be seen clearly 

 denned a portion of the old pack-horse road, cut out of the 

 solid rock, but the remainder of the road has been widened 

 for modern purposes and its character changed. 



From the ford the road ascends directly to Taxal Church, 

 and there seems to be little doubt that it was specially made 

 to allow the inhabitants of Shallcross Hall to attend the church, 

 of which there now only remains the tower, which dates back 

 to a.d. 1 200, the nave and chancel having been rebuilt in the 

 last century. 



* These notes represent some of the many pleasant hours Mr. Andrew and 

 I have spent in visiting the old halls of this and other counties. 



