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 William Worcestre was born in 1415. In his old age he travelled the country for pleasure and left this account of the Derbyshire Wye. He wrote in a kind of Latin but used English words in among the Latin such as the names of the fish. You can follow his journey on the Ordnance Survey White Peak map which shows all the places he mentions. The real distances are given in brackets after William Worcestre’s figures.
'Memorandum that ‘Halywell’, the source of the Derbyshire River Wye a hundred miles from London, performs many marvels in curing the sick, and in winter it is as warm as new milk.
The River Wye, called the Holy Well, rises at Buxton in Derbyshire in the High Peak 6 miles [8 m] beyond Peke Castle and 20 miles [33 m] from Derby; it is 30 miles [49 m E.] this side of Chester and flows through Cowdale and [King] Steynerdale, and the village called Medewe and Wormehille Millehowses [Miller’s Dale], and the town of Marnsale and through a valley called Dymyngesdale where spirits suffer torments, where there is the marvellous entrance into the earth of Peak where souls are tortured.* Thence it flows through Asshford and so to Bakewelle, a good town, and by Haddon Castle where the lords of Verdon live, and by Rolleslee, where it falls into the river called Derwent Water, 12 miles [24 m] beyond Derby. There it loses its name of Wye. In Wye water are fishes: trouthes, culleys*, loches, anguille* grayllynghes, bolehedes, penkys*, and good salmones in the time called St Mary’s days.'
(* Culleys are miller’s thumbs, anguille are eels and penkys or pinks are either young salmon or minnows.)
(* He means Demons Dale Cave, which is marked on the map as a rock shelter. It has collapsed and cannot be entered but vast quantities of water pour out from it in flood conditions.)
'And note that the hills above the valley of the River Wye are as high as the steeple of St Paul’s Cathedral at London.
Darewent Water rises in Hallamshire near a Castle.
Peke Hospital was founded by the wife of Lord Peverell.
Peke Castle was founded by Lord Peverell, a splendid baron according to Sir Richard de Woodroffe.
Doff Water rises 30 miles from Derby and flows through Tutbery and Burtonuptrent, falling into the Trent, where it loses its name.
Memorandum of the River Wye from Buxton to Cowdale one mile [2 m] and from Cowdale to Steresdale 2 miles [1 m] and from Steresdale to Medew one mile
from ‘Medew’ to Millhowses one mile [2 m]
from Millhowses to Marnsale 2 miles [3 m]
from the town of Marnsale to Dymyngysdale, a deep dale, is 2 miles [c. 2˝ m]
from Dymyngesdale to the town of Asshford one mile [c. 1˝ m]
from Asshford to the town of Bakewell 2 miles
from Bakewell to Haddon Castle one mile [1˝ m]
from Haddon to Rollysley one mile [1˝ m] and there the River Wye
falls into the River Derwent; this Derwent rises at the town of Derwent 30 miles [40 m] beyond Derby.
This isle of Derwent where Thomas Radclyff lives, by the source of the River Derwent.'
Taken from William Worcestre’s Itineraries, edited by J.H. Harvey, Oxford 1969.
More Pictures
Rivers and reservoirs
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