Foremark to Anchor Church Walk

This leisurely 2.5 hour walk starts in Ingleby, easily reached from either Repton or Swarkestone.

The circular walk takes you to Heath Wood, which is the only known Viking Cremation Cemetery in England with 60 burial mounds. The barrows vary between 6-13 metres in diameter and 0.6-1.5 metres in height and contain cremated human remains, sword fragments, buckles, nails, pottery and other objects.

Pass Foremark Hall with its old walled garden and ornamental lake (now Repton Preparatory School) and visit St Saviour’s Church – if you have time – to admire the altar rails made by famous local blacksmith Robert Bakewell.

The walk continues to four interconnected caves known as Anchor Church overlooking Black Pool. The caves were partly formed by the action of river water on the soft rock and partly cut out by hand. Because of isolated places like this, early Christians sought refuge to worship God whilst avoiding persecution. The caves can only be reached via the River Trent or by walking the public footpaths.

The route continues alongside Black Pool before making its way back to The John Thompson Inn in Ingleby, whose reintroduction of brewery to Derbyshire led to a special beer being made to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

You can watch a quick visual guide on the walk at the bottom of this page. For a more detailed map you are recommended to refer to Ordnance Survey Explorer 245: The National Forest.

Please note: after prolonged rain the path beyond Anchor Church can be impassable. The alternative route given involves retracing your steps, is longer at 5.4 miles (8.6km) and takes 3 hours.

• New and exciting research by the Royal Agricultural University and Wessex University in 2021 has revealed that Anchor Church may in fact date from the 9th century:

“This makes it probably the oldest intact domestic interior in the UK – with doors, floor, roof, windows etc – and, what’s more, it may well have been lived in by a king who became a saint.”

View the ITV news coverage of the revelations here.