As you approach the outskirts of the town of Buxton on the A53 in the county of Derbyshire, U.K. having travelled from the small town of Leek in Staffordshire, and if you look to your left before you come in to Buxton you can see a peculiar shaped hill with windswept trees growing upon it.
Due to the thin topsoil and the extreme weather that can often be found in this area the trees have taken on a stunted appearance and only the few sheep that graze here and there are all that break up the barreness of this wild countryside.
This unusual hill may or may not be man made and is named the Terret, the name seems to be derived from the brass ring which is used as part of a horses harness, it is the ring that the horses rein is attached to and which also attaches to the bit.
As the hill is circular in shape, as is the Terret on the horses harness it is thought that this is how this strange hill aquired its name. Also the connection to horses may go deeper as it is thought that around the base of this circular hill prehistoric horse racing once took place, and if you walk around the base of the hill there is still evidence of a track worn in the ground, perhaps this was formed many many years ago by our ancestors holding the equivalent of our Grand National or Derby!
If we retrace our steps back towards the small town of Leek we find a place known as Solomons Hollow, which can also be found on the A53 Leek to Buxton road. For a few years now I have puzzled about this name "Solomons Hollow". It is a strange dip in the road which incorporates a long S shaped bend and has long been an accident black spot which has borne witness to many fatalities. For a long time I have been under the impression that the name Solomons Hollow referred to the fact that a wise man had once lived at this spot. In the bible King Solomon was famed for his great wisdom, however this explanation is inaccurate. It turns out that this place aquired its name because a man named Solomon Ash owned this land during the last century.
Apart from the fact that the road here is an accident black spot, perhaps the fact that a murder took place here where the road crosses the river Churnet has something to do with the many fatalities which have occurred at this spot.
