PENTRICH, Derbys.

Leaders: Dave J & Simon
7 miles grade 'C'

200 years ago a group of Derbyshire weavers and miners resorted to pitchforks and muskets in a futile attempt to overthrow by force the government that denied them the vote.
The uprising lasted only the length of one cold, rainy night and ended in public executions and beheadings. 
The Pentrich Revolution is little remembered now and there is little trace of it in the cluster of villages 14 miles north of Nottingham where it occurred. But in 1817 it terrified ministers sufficiently for them to take extreme measures to make sure nothing like it ever happened again.
It is a tale of violence and despair far removed from the common and placid image of Jane Austen’s England.
About 300 unemployed labourers – not all willing volunteers – from local villages joined a march on Nottingham on the night of 9 June 1817. They had been told they were part of a national uprising and would join at least 70,000 northerners marching south “like a cloud” to capture London.
The Pentrich Revolution walk visits the village associated with the march and visits points of interest on the walk devised to commemorate the uprising.