This cache is part of my HPG (Hathersage Park and Grab) series, a series of caches hidden at places around the interesting village of Hathersage, where Little John is said to be buried. All the caches can be done as Park and Grabs, or are no more than 2 minutes away from the road. Please replace all caches as found and be respectful when parking and do not block access to any of the residents properties/land.
A Jagger is a person who manage packhorses. Before roads existed, there lots of Packhorses trails in Derbyshire.
A packhorse or pack horse refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of wheeled vehicles. Use of packhorses dates from the neolithic period to the present day. Today, westernized nations primarily use packhorses for recreational pursuits, but they are still an important part of everyday transportation of goods throughout much of the third world and have some military uses in rugged regions.
Packhorses were heavily used to transport goods and minerals in England from medieval times until the construction of the first turnpike roads and canals in the 18th century. Many routes crossed thePennines between Lancashire and Yorkshire, enabling salt,[1] limestone,[2] coal, fleeces and cloth to be transported.
Some had self-describing names, such as Limersgate and the Long Causeway; others were named after landmarks, such as the Reddyshore Scoutgate ("gate" is Old English for a road or way) and the Rapes Highway (after Rapes Hill). The medieval paths were marked by wayside crosses along their routes. Mount Cross, above the hamlet of Shore in the Cliviger Gorge, shows signs of Viking influence. As the Vikings moved eastwards from the Irish Sea in about 950 AD, it is likely that the pack horse routes were established from that time.[3]
Most packhorses were Galloways, small, stocky horses named after the Scottish district where they were first bred. Those employed in the lime-carriage trade were known as "limegals".[4] Each pony could carry about 240 pounds (110 kg) in weight, spread between two panniers. Typically a train of ponies would number between 12 and 20, but sometimes up to 40. They averaged about 25 miles (40 km) a day. The train's leader commonly wore a bell to warn of its approach, since contemporary accounts emphasised the risk packhorse trains presented to others.[5] They were particularly useful as roads were muddy and often impassable by wagon or cart, and there were no bridges over some major rivers in the north of England.
About 1000 packhorses a day passed through Clitheroe before 1750,[6] and "commonly 200 to 300 laden horses every day over the River Calder (at a ford) called Fennysford in the King's Highway between Clitheroe and Whalley"[7] The importance of packhorse routes was reflected in jingles and rhymes, often aide-memoires of the routes.
As the need for cross-Pennine transportation increased, the main routes were improved, often by laying stone setts parallel to the horse track, at a distance of a cartwheel. They remained difficult in poor weather, the Reddyshore Scoutgate was "notoriously difficult", and became insufficient for a developing commercial and industrial economy. In the 18th century, canals started to be built in England and, following the Turnpike Act 1773, metalled roads. They made the ancient packhorse routes obsolete.[9] Away from main routes, their use persisted into the 19th century leaving a legacy of paths across wilderness areas called packhorse routes, roads or trails[10] and distinctive narrow, low sided stone arched packhorse bridges for example, at Marsden near Huddersfield. The Packhorse is a common public house name throughout England.[11] During the 19th century, horses that transported officers' baggage during military campaigns were referred to as "bathorses" from the French bat, meaning packsaddle.[12]
The cache is a micro (BYOP) hidden near a gate. There is a public footpath from GZ down to HPG2 if you wanted to walk between them, but beware as you have to cross the 90mph Hope Valley Line which has around 7 - 8 trains an hour and you also have to cross the busy A6187.
Please be careful when parking as you are in the blindspot of cars coming out of the houses, so please park away from the driveways. Also be careful when searching for the cache as there are several patches of nettles. If you walk down the path towards the main road you will come to a level crossing, this is a great place to watch the trains but YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK, and be careful as there are lots of fast trains.
Please replace the cache EXACTLY as found, and look out for muggles, stealth is a must as you are in full view of the houses.