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 (56 miles in the glorious Peak District!) |
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(56 miles in the glorious Peak District!) |
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Bullock Smithy is the original name for what is now Hazel
Grove. A Richard Bullock leased in 1560 some land from a
John Torkington to establish a smithy. Thus Bullock
Smithy came into existence and eventually became the name
of the village and was used in deeds, maps and books of
those times. Villagers came to dislike the name and officially
changed it to Hazel Grove in 1835, although there is evidence
that the name Hazel Grove had been used earlier in 1790. There are numerous reasons given for this choice of name, one was the predominance of Hazel trees, but it is likely that the name was chosen from Hassel Grove, an area of sand and gravel pits towards High Lane. Around 1750, Bullock Smithy became an important posting hall and John Wesley described it as 'One of the most famous villages in the country for all manner of wickedness. It is thought he was referring to gambling, cock fighting and bull and dog fighting. The village still has wicked people who amongst other wicked deeds, devise tortures such as a 56 mile hike and call it the 'BULLOCK SMITHY'. Download MSWord document... "One Man's Challenge. A History
of the Bullock Smithy Hike"by Quentin Blagg |
