We had a lovely blue sky this morning, so I had a walk around the Stone Edge Cupola (pronounced Stanage), which is a lead smelting furnace. It is the oldest free-standing industrial chimney in Great Britain. The three little white dots on the left are ducks!
Firstly, I had to navigate around the three ducks. They were basking in the sun next to the pond. They weren't too pleased I'd suddenly appeared on the scene. They got a bit mouthy with me.
Once I'd gone past they settled back down again. They were funny little characters.
The chimney was built around 1770 and is 55ft tall and made out of gritstone.
The plaque next to the Cupola read "Restored in 1979 by the Peak District Mines Historical Society Ltd with the agreement of the owner. Mrs. P. Marriott, Spitewinter, and with financial help from the Grocers' Company London, via the Ancient Monuments Society, Derbyshire County Council and the Department of the Environment". I'm pleased they had the foresight to save the Cupola. A lot of history gets lost along the way.
Normally, I would have walked around the ponds, but it was so waterlogged it was impossible, so I went a little further down the lane. We've had an abundance of dandelions this year.
Not everyone likes them, but I think they're lovely, especially when there's such a lot in one place.
