Stake Hill Road

 

It seems that this was a major road across Ughill Moor continuing from Rod Side from Stannington bearing north over the hill to join Wet Shaw Lane towards Ughill or to descend to Lower Bradfield. The route is still a Byway - open to motorised vehicles. There is plenty of evidence of disused quarries, clay pits and mines along the route which would have made Ughill Moor a busy industrial site of the past. Furnace Hill may also indicate smelting was happening in this area too. The moorland areas either side of Stake Hill Road are littered with all sort of tracks and holloways probably linked to this industry and would have been the routes needed for transport.

 

Stake Hill Road itself is probably older and is one of the important long distance routes to Bradfield. The name is strange, and may point to the use of stakes as markers along high routes that were likely to get buried in snow in winter. More probable is that it derives from an ancient name maybe from the “Celtic” (Scottish Gaelic) stocan from stuc, stuic, ‘a little  hill;  a conical  hill; a little hill projecting from a greater’. This would make sense look at the topography of the higher moorland to the south and the west and bearing in mind that ancient important routes and settlements tended to keep to the high ground. 

 

At the gate from Stake Hill Road onto Wet Shaw Lane a remnant of an old guide stoop can be seen . The original site is unknown as this stoop was found in a field wall at a farm on Hoarstones Road. It was re-erected on this site in 1997. It is inscribed only on one side with "rode - Hope - 9m”.  This means that it ’s original place was probably not on a junction but was on the road to Hope. The nine miles stated would amount to eleven and a quarter miles today.