Hidden Derbyshire is a documentary storytelling podcast exploring the places where history, folklore, and landscape intersect.
Across ten episodes, we travel from prehistoric stone circles to plague villages, Norman fortresses, industrial mills, mass trespass protests, and drowned towns — uncovering how each site shaped the people who lived here, and how their stories still echo in the hills.
There are no interviews, no experts, and no academic lectures. Just atmosphere, archaeology, and narrative — told on foot, in the landscape, and through time.
Whether you know Derbyshire well or not at all, you’ll find something here that surprises you. Because this county isn’t just picturesque — it’s strange, it’s old, and it’s still talking.
Series One: Landscapes of Time
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The Ghost of Anne Stanhope: Hardwick Hall’s Lingering Presence
jeudi 16 avril 2026 • Durée 09:41
Hardwick Hall stands as one of Derbyshire’s most striking historic houses—built to display power, wealth, and permanence. But behind its symmetry and glass-lined walls lies a more unsettled story.
Anne Stanhope, daughter-in-law of Bess of Hardwick, was a figure shaped by conflict, reputation, and a life lived within one of England’s most formidable households. Over time, her story has become entwined with the hall itself, giving rise to quiet accounts of a lingering presence—most often felt in its long gallery.
In this episode of Hidden Derbyshire: Folklore & Legends, we explore the documented life of Anne Stanhope, the tensions that defined her place at Hardwick, and how those realities evolved into local ghost tradition. Blending history with atmosphere, this episode examines how reputation can outlast a lifetime—and how certain places seem to hold onto it.
The Devil’s Arse of Castleton: Echoes Beneath the Peak
jeudi 16 avril 2026 • Durée 12:51
At the edge of Castleton lies a vast opening in the earth—one of the largest cave entrances in Britain, and a place once known by a name few would use today.
For centuries, Peak Cavern was called the “Devil’s Arse,” a reflection of the strange sounds that echoed from within and the belief that something stirred beneath the surface. Early travellers, including Daniel Defoe, recorded its scale and atmosphere, while local tradition linked the cave to something deeper, darker, and unknown.
In this episode of Hidden Derbyshire: Folklore & Legends, we explore the history, folklore, and lived experience of Peak Cavern—from its role in local industry to its place in a wider tradition of caves as thresholds to the underworld.
Blending documented accounts with atmospheric storytelling, this episode examines how natural spaces become shaped by fear, imagination, and interpretation—and why this cave, more than most, has never felt entirely silent.
The Nine Ladies of Stanton Moor: A Dance Turned to Stone
jeudi 16 avril 2026 • Durée 14:50
High on Stanton Moor, a small circle of weathered stones stands quietly among the heather. Known as the Nine Ladies, their origins lie deep in prehistory—but their meaning has long been shaped by story.
In this episode of Hidden Derbyshire: Folklore & Legends, we explore one of the county’s most enduring tales: nine women, said to have been turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath. Alongside the legend, we uncover the recorded history of the site, its place within a wider tradition of British petrification folklore, and the way landscapes hold memory long after their original purpose is forgotten.
Blending documented tradition with quiet reflection, this episode looks at how folklore grows from uncertainty—and why places like Stanton Moor continue to feel significant, even now.
On the banks of the Derwent, Richard Arkwright built a new kind of landscape — one powered not by feudal obligation or aristocratic prestige, but by water, machinery, capital, and the disciplined management of time.
Cromford became the first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill in the world and the prototype for the factory system. It redefined labour, reshaped community, and turned time into currency — influencing the Industrial Revolution from Derbyshire to Lancashire, New England, and beyond.
*Hidden Derbyshire: Landscapes of Time*
A documentary storytelling podcast about the places where history, folklore, and landscape intersect.
**Core Historical & Industrial Sources**
* **Fitton, R.S. & Wadsworth, A.P.** (1958). *The Strutts and the Arkwrights, 1758–1830.*
Peveril Castle: Stone, Feudalism & the View from the Edge
mardi 27 janvier 2026 • Durée 06:54
High above Castleton, the ruins of Peveril Castle overlook the Hope Valley — a fortress less defined by battles than by law, revenue, and administration. Built in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest, Peveril became a centre of feudal authority: managing land, lead, markets, and justice from a vantage point designed for visibility and control.
In this episode, we explore how Peveril Castle governed more through paperwork than warfare, how its power declined without drama, and how the Romantic age transformed a legal instrument into a picturesque ruin with one of the most commanding views in Derbyshire.
*Hidden Derbyshire: Landscapes of Time*
A documentary storytelling podcast about the places where history, folklore, and landscape intersect.
**Primary Archaeology & Landscape Sources**
* **Barnatt, John** (1990). *The Henges, Stone Circles and Ringcairns of the Peak District*.
— Includes Nine Ladies & Stanton Moor cairn complex.
* **Barnatt & Collis (eds.)** (1996). *Barrows in the Peak District*.
— Covers cairns, ring cairns, typology, and landscape sequencing.
* **Derbyshire Archaeological Journal** (19th–20th c. volumes).
— Antiquarian field notes, early measurements, cairn mapping.
* **Historic England Scheduling Notes** — Nine Ladies + King Stone + associated cairns.
— Official designation, context, and landscape assessment.
**Chronology Notes**
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Haddon Hall: Stone, Marriage & Power
jeudi 22 janvier 2026 • Durée 07:29
Haddon Hall stands above the River Wye as one of England’s finest surviving medieval houses. From the Peverils to the Vernons and the Manners, the hall became a stage for marriage, inheritance, religion, decline, restoration, and romantic reinvention.
In this episode, we explore how Haddon survived where so many great houses fell: not through war or wealth, but through neglect — entering a long sleep that preserved its medieval fabric into the modern age.
*Hidden Derbyshire: Landscapes of Time*
A documentary storytelling podcast about the places where history, folklore, and landscape intersect.
**Primary Historical & Architectural Sources**
* **Girouard, Mark** (1978). *Life in the English Country House.*
— Foundational for understanding domestic aristocratic spaces.
* **Thompson, M.W.** (1994). *The Medieval Hall: The Basis of Secular Architecture.*
— Explains hall typology, hierarchy, and evolution.
* **Manners Family Records** — link to Belvoir Castle and dukedom.
* **G.E. Cokayne** (1910). *Complete Peerage.*
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Eyam: The Village That Chose to Stay
mercredi 21 janvier 2026 • Durée 07:34
In 1665, the plague arrived in the Derbyshire village of Eyam inside a parcel of cloth from London. Faced with contagion, fear, and the risk of spreading disease across the region, the villagers made an extraordinary choice: they quarantined themselves for over a year, allowing the plague to burn through their own community rather than escape into the Peak District beyond.
In this episode, we follow Eyam through its darkest year — from the first deaths to the boundary stones, the outdoor sermons, the heavy losses, and the strange mix of faith and intuition that created one of the most remarkable public health decisions in British history.
*Hidden Derbyshire: Landscapes of Time*
A documentary storytelling podcast about the places where history, folklore, and landscape intersect.
— Accessible narrative history; foundational for modern public memory.
* **Ranger, Terence** (1995). *Plague, Quarantine and Memory: Eyam Revisited*.
— Examines how the story has been interpreted over time.
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Navio: The Roman Fort in the Mist
mercredi 21 janvier 2026 • Durée 07:41
High above the Hope Valley lie the remains of Navio — a Roman fort built not for spectacle, but for logistics. Positioned among lead mines, roads, and rugged frontier landscapes, Navio reveals how the Roman Empire functioned at its edges: through supply chains, administrators, and auxiliary soldiers far from home.
In this episode, we explore Rome’s quiet machinery in Derbyshire: the roads, the ore, the soldiers, the civilians, and the slow decline that turned an imperial outpost into grass.
*Hidden Derbyshire: Landscapes of Time*
A documentary storytelling podcast about the places where history, archaeology, and landscape intersect.
**Primary Archaeological & Excavation Sources**
* **St. Joseph, J.K.** (1955). *Air Reconnaissance of Roman Britain*.
— Early aerial photography confirming fort layout & ditch systems.
* **Derbyshire Archaeological Journal** (various vols., late 19th–20th c.).
— Excavation notes, measurements, fort plan interpretations.
* **Jones, G.D.B. & Mattingly, D.J.** (1990). *Atlas of Roman Britain*.
— Regional context; positioning of Navio in northern frontier network.
— Site-specific synthesis; lead industry + Roman infrastructure.
* **Historic England Scheduling Records** — Navio / Brough Fort.
— Official designation, phase notes, earthwork mapping.
**Roman Roads & Infrastructure Sources**
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The Nine Ladies: Stones, Sorcery & Protest
mardi 20 janvier 2026 • Durée 07:03
EPISODE 3 — “The Nine Ladies: Stones, Sorcery & Protest”
On Stanton Moor, a small stone circle sits low among the heather — modest in size, rich in stories. Known as the Nine Ladies, this Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age monument has been reimagined repeatedly across four thousand years: as pagan temple, as Christian cautionary tale, as Victorian druidic relic, and — most recently — as the focus of a modern environmental protest.
In this episode, we explore how archaeology, folklore, and activism collide on a single patch of moorland, and why small monuments sometimes accumulate the largest meanings.
Hidden Derbyshire: Landscapes of Time
A documentary storytelling podcast about the places where history, folklore, and landscape intersect.
**Primary Archaeology & Landscape Sources**
* **Barnatt, John** (1990). *The Henges, Stone Circles and Ringcairns of the Peak District*.
— Includes Nine Ladies & Stanton Moor cairn complex.
* **Barnatt & Collis (eds.)** (1996). *Barrows in the Peak District*.
— Covers cairns, ring cairns, typology, and landscape sequencing.
* **Derbyshire Archaeological Journal** (19th–20th c. volumes).
— Antiquarian field notes, early measurements, cairn mapping.
* **Historic England Scheduling Notes** — Nine Ladies + King Stone + associated cairns.
— Official designation, context, and landscape assessment.
### **Chronology Notes**
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Minninglow - The Barrows In The Trees
mardi 20 janvier 2026 • Durée 07:08
EPISODE 2: “Minninglow: The Barrows in the Trees”
High on a limestone hill, beneath a crown of plantation spruce, lies one of Derbyshire’s oldest monuments to the dead. Minninglow is a multi-phase prehistoric site — a Neolithic long barrow later joined by Bronze Age round barrows — where ancestral memory was built into the landscape across more than a thousand years. In this episode, we explore collective burial, curated bones, ceremonial objects, and the strange quietness of a place that modern walkers treat with instinctive respect. From Arbor Low’s ritual circle to Minninglow’s barrowed dead, a prehistoric network begins to emerge — one shaped not by warfare, but by ancestry, visibility, and landscape. **Hidden Derbyshire: Landscapes of Time**A documentary storytelling podcast about the places where history, folklore, and landscape intersect.
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— Modern biography; myth vs reality of “invention.”
**Labour, Time & Social Change**
* **Thompson, E.P.** (1967). *Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism.*
— Crucial for “factory time” as social innovation.
* **Honeyman, Katrina** (2007). *Child Workers in England, 1780–1820.*
— Cromford as case for child/women labour regimes.
* **Joyce, Patrick** (1980). *Work, Society and Politics.*
