Hayfield is situated in the centre of England at the foot of the Kinder Massif the southern most point of the Pennine Chain
On the Summit of Kinder Low which looks down the valley is a Bowl Barrow* of a style dating from 2400-1500BCE the late Neolithic to late Bronze Age.
The road (A624) which crosses the river Sett in what is now the centre of the settlement of Hayfield connected the Roman forts of Aqua Arnemetia (Buxton) to the south and Melandra (Glossop) to the north
The first written record of the place is to be found in the Doomsday Book when it was called 'Hedfeld' and was a natural clearing in the vast forest that once covered the whole of this area of North Derbyshire
It had no Lord of the Manor and 'tithes were paid to the Abbot of Basingwerke at Holywell in North Wales The Victorian Church in the centre of Hayfield was built on top of the first which dates form the 14th Ctry when in 1386 King Richard II granted 'land between the two rivers' (the Sett and Phoside) for a Church to be built
The 'Sett' was a much more substantial river in those days running through what became the centre of the village and had such power that it swept away at least two earlier bridges built on the site of the existing which dates from 1837
The Sett was eventually tamed in 1911 when an earth Dam was constructed in the Kinder Valley forming a Reservoir to supply Stockport with drinking water.
The other river 'Phoside brook' runs down a stone culvert under The Bulls Head Inn to appear for a few yards between the Inn and Steeple End Fold before it disappears under Station Road and the Church to reappear below the Waterfall and can be seen from the memorial gardens emerging from under Walk Mill
* Scheduled monument No 23271