These days, most people know Hayfield for its cosy pub \u2013 The Pack Horse. But did you know, this pretty Peak District village was also the site of one of the most famous protests in British history? <\/p>
Hayfield, the neat little gritstone township in the western shadow of Kinder Scout in the Peak District<\/a>, plays an historic role in rambling folklore.\u00a0<\/p> It was from here on April 24, 1932, at\u00a0Bowden Bridge Quarry\u00a0east of the village, that the famous\u00a0Kinder Scout Mass Trespass<\/a>\u00a0set out to exercise the ramblers\u2019 right to roam on the then-forbidden moorland. Five ramblers were later arrested and imprisoned for their part in the demonstration. A commemorative plaque was erected in 1982 to mark the 50th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary in the quarry \u2013 which ironically now serves as a car park for walkers.<\/p> Hayfield was once an industrial centre, with wool, cotton, paper-making and textile printing mills using the fast-flowing waters of the Rivers Sett and Kinder. All these industries are long gone, but the fine Georgian\u00a0parish church of St Matthew\u00a0gives a hint of the former prosperity of this little Pennine township. The small square off Market Street is known as Dungeon Brow because the village lock-up was situated there.\u00a0<\/p> One of Hayfield\u2019s most famous sons was the actor Arthur Lowe, Captain Mainwaring in BBC TV\u2019s long-running comedy\u00a0Dad\u2019s Army<\/em>. He was a member of the village cricket team, and regularly brought members of the cast to play the village team on the delightfully-situated village cricket ground on Kinder Road.<\/p>Hayfield history<\/h2>