Project Documents Anecdote of Oatcakes Mr Gould Reading Packhorse

The Project
Activities

Oral History sessions

This section of the project uncovered people’s memories of Pilsbury and the wider area and linked it to research about ancient routeways as well as local routes to markets. It aimed to demonstrate the position of Pilsbury in the wider landscape and how the area had changed over time, rather than investigating the castle itself, whose mysteries lie beyond human memory. Several local history groups met to discuss Pilsbury and in-depth interviews were carried out with a few people who had particularly interesting or pertinent memories of the area.

Some fascinating local facts and anecdotes came to light, such as the first written record of Derbyshire Oatcakes coming from Pilsbury. Whilst the transcribed diaries of William Gould of Pilsbury (Land Agent of the Duke of Devonshire) provided school children and local historians with a wonderful primary record of life in the area during the 18th Century, Stories like this provided a human element to the tale of Pilsbury whilst the reminiscence sessions themselves provided an opportunity for elders of the community to tell their story and to have them valued and remembered by the younger generation as well as future generations.

The Peak Packhorse Group

This group helped to illustrate the research about routes and trackways. In a century dominated by cars, lorries and planes a “packhorse train” is an alien concept. It’s difficult to imagine what packhorses looked like, let alone picture the excitement and atmosphere that would have been associated with the arrival of a packhorse train in an isolated village. The arrival of a packhorse train at our Midsummer Finale all jingly bells and lumbering walk, the unpacking of goods and the market atmosphere that accompanied their arrival brought the significance of these pre-industrial traders to life. At the same time the actual process of developing and creating the packhorse train, provided an opportunity for the group to discover how the trains actually worked and gave insight into the complexities and difficulties involved in working with horses in train conditions.