Description: Matlock Bank Methodist Church members on an outing to Monsal Dale. The Stepping Stones (see DCHQ000328) are in the background on the left of the men who are posed on the Upperdale (?) Footbridge across the river.
Monsal Dale is a part of the Wye valley lying between Water cum Jolly Dale and the foot of Taddington Dale. Here the valley is horse-shoe shaped and is overlooked by Monsal Head, which provides one of the finest viewpoints in Derbyshire of the dale and river, and of the aqueduct that once carried the Midland Red Railway Line.
The viaduct (not visible in this photograph) was build in 1863 despite much protest at the time. It was the cause of John Ruskins famous outburst about the valley being gone and now every fool in Buxton can be in Bakewell in half an hour and every fool in Bakewell in Buxton. The Peak section of the line closed in the late 1960's and in 1980 the track was bought by the National Park who converted it into a footpath called the Monsal Trail.