Doctor's Gate is a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman R ...

in the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorl ...

of England, which ran between Melandra fort at

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is located east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of the county town, Matlock. Glossop lies near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Manche ...

and Navio fort at Brough-on-Noe. Doctor's Gate was recorded in 1627 as "Docto Talbotes Gate", named after Dr John Talbot who is attributed with improving the summit section in the late 15th century and 'gate' is derived from the Scandinavian word for road. The route of Doctor's Gate was investigated in the 1970s by Peter Wroe and Peter Mellor. The present day path across the moors, which is marked on OS maps, was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

packhorse route and may deviate about 1km to the north from the actual course of the Roman road on Ashop Moor. Four sections of the Doctor's Gate route are under the stewardship of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, within its Hope Woodlands property: * Blackley Hey section: trackway through the Woodlands Valley north of

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

between Fulwood Stile Farm and the ford at Upper Ashop. * Heyridge Farm section: path between Ashop Bridge and Oyster Clough. * Lady Clough section: path between Oyster Cough (east of Snake Inn) and the

Snake Pass Snake Pass is a hill pass in the Derbyshire section of the Peak District, crossing the Pennines between Glossop and the Ladybower Reservoir at Ashopton. The road was engineered by Thomas Telford and opened in 1821. The pass carries the A57 ...

. * Summit section: paved routeway between Snake Pass (

A57 road The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln via Warrington, Cadishead, Irlam, Patricroft, Eccles, Salford and Manchester, then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass (between the high moorlands of Bleaklo ...

along the old

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

to Glossop turnpike from 1821) and just beyond the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

long-distance footpath. Doctor's Gate Road was assigned the Margary number RR711 by Roman road historian Ivan Donald Margary, who commented that the road was "remarkably direct considering the very difficult country that the route has to traverse".{{Cite web, title=OS Roman Road Files (Margary), url=http://www.romanroads.org/osarchive.html, access-date=2020-09-24, website=www.romanroads.org

References

Roman roads in England History of Derbyshire Roman sites in Derbyshire