Simon English
England Revisited

On a stump behind Rose’s Café opposite the Coombe Reservoir at Tunstead Milton.

On a stick put up near to where the old post or stump that was used in 1971 may have been.

The post was in rough ground behind Rosa’s Café which I remember as a wooden construction. The café has long gone and where it stood is now a row of detached houses. The rough ground is the gardens behind these houses. The owners kindly gave me access.

The fate of the café is linked to the building of the very expensive Whaley Bridge to Chapel en le Frith By-Pass finally became the A6 and opened in 1987. The road running through Tunstead Milton became the B 5470 and the decline in passing trade closed Rosa’s. By the same token the local pub, the ‘Rose and Crown’ closed in 2001 and is now a B&B.

The view to the north of point 35 is a hillside on top of which is a view point at Eccles Pike. The fields, walls and old barns on the hillside still look much the same as 1971. The farms may have changed hands but the fields are still grass and sheep. The line of electricity poles that brings power into the valley come diagonally down and across the hill as far as the field in which is point 35. Here in 1997 two new poles were put to take the strain of burying the cable from here on south and east. This extra work was necessary as the fields to the east have now been landscaped as a new golf course.

To the south on the other side of the road from the new houses is the Combs reservoir. This provides water for the Peak Forest Canal. Depending on rainfall and demand the level of water therein can change dramatically. When I visited in 1971 it was full however in august 2010 after such a dry spring it was very low. I am assured that it refills quickly, in fact clearly there has been a danger of waves overtopping the dam so in the intervening years a six foot high concrete wave deflector has been constructed for 250 yards along the west end, a most spectacular construction.

Points 35 & 39