Doctor’s Gate is a Roman road that crosses the high moorland between Glossop and the upper Derwent valley, originally linking Melandra Castle with the surrounding settlements. The name is recorded as early as 1809, when Hutchinson noted it derived from a local legend involving the Devil and Doctor Faustus.
The legend describes a local doctor, an alchemist and dabbler in forbidden knowledge, who made a pact with the Devil in exchange for magical secrets. The deal was settled by a midnight race across the moors on black chargers. The Devil, confident of victory, gave the doctor a long start. As the race neared its end and defeat seemed certain, the doctor crossed a running stream, breaking the Devil’s power over him. The Devil, grasping at the horse’s tail as it cleared the water, was left holding only the severed limb as horse and rider escaped.
The road itself predates the legend by more than a millennium. The name, however, has stuck.
