Beginnings and endings

This enigmatic lump of sandstone, the Hemlock Stone, found on Bramcote Hills west of Nottingham,  was the starting point for my 2008 guide to the Derbyshire Portway. I suggested that it was both a route marker and a boundary stone, being near the Nottinghamshire/ Derbyshire border. From this point I followed a route northwest into the Derbyshire Peak District, a route which had been pioneered by Cockerton in the 1930s. After about 45 miles the route reached Mam Tor in the White Peak, which is where my research finished.

But clearly the Portway must have had a continuation at both 'ends', as well as branches east and west. Having reached the Trent valley it may well have linked with the River Trent to the east of Nottingham's Trent Bridge, which has been a barrier to navigation for over a thousand years. At the northern end it seems likely that a major route would cross the Pennines in the direction of Manchester, which was the course of a well-known Roman road. 

So both these areas require more investigation, and each has its own challenges. Today Nottingham obviously has a heavily urbanised landscape with scant evidence of prehistoric pathways, while the Woodlands Valley to the northwest of the Ladybower Reservoir is high, bleak moorland with little documentation or mapping. Although roads rarely have a clearly-defined starting or stopping point, I feel confident that researching these two different regions will give a better understanding of how and when the Portway functioned.