The intriguing secrets of ‘Schymynde Cliff’

Home to nursery rhymes, ancient hunters, iron forges and even a “peace army”, Patrick Coleman looks at the fascinating history of Shining Cliff Woods.

SHINING Cliff Woods, between Cromford and Ambergate, may not have the strangest place name to be encountered in Derbyshire, but it is still intriguing enough to require some explanation of its origin. “Shining”, after all, is not an adjective you’d naturally associate with a great chunk of gritstone rock…