Winster is an eccentric White Peak village between Matlock and Bakewell, which has managed to retain an air of self-contained world.

This guided walk around the village streets will explore Winster’s many folk tales and annual traditions, including Pancake Racing, Guising and Morris Dancing, as well as revisiting bizarre incidents in the village’s history.

The Winster Wakes Archive is a National Lottery Heritage funded project which since 2024 has been collecting and digitising material relating to the village’s annual Wakes Carnival. The walk will drop in to the Burton Institute to see some of the work the volunteers on the project have been doing.

A photograph taken outside Winster Hall circa 1870 is reckoned to be the oldest photo of a group of Mummers or Guisers from anywhere in the world. Winster Guisers were revived in 1980 and still perform around Christmas time. Winster’s long-running Morris team have some unsual ‘supernumary’ costumed characters: a King, Queen, Jester and Witch. A report on the Wakes summer carnival in the Derbyshire Times of 12th July 1873 said, ‘the Winster band visited the principal houses and paraded the streets accompanied by some grotesquely dressed and masked figures’. They sure do like to dress up here in Winster! If the fancy takes you, then please feel free to attend this walk either masked and/or grotesquely dressed to help assimilate with the locals – you’ll fit right in.

-

The walk will be3 miles and take 2 - 3 hours. It will start at 2pm, meet outside Winster Market House on Main Street. Mainly based in and around the village streets, the route is of moderate difficulty, including some steep hills and countryside paths. For those travelling via public transport, the 172 bus can be used to get there in time for the walk, arriving at 13:08 from Bakewell or 13:48 from Matlock. Return buses to both destinations are available after the walk concludes.

-

This walk will be led by Richard Bradley AKA Weird Derbyshire. For the past decade, Richard has been attending and documenting the customs and folklore of Derbyshire. Since September 2020, he has written a monthly feature on local folklore and traditions for Derbyshire Life magazine. He is also the author of four local history books. His first solo photographic exhibition, Weird Derbyshire and Peakland, held at Buxton Museum in 2019, explored local customs and folklore.

Description supplied by the event organiser.