‘I have seen old prints of this subject showing the ash tree as a sapling. No doubt it has been drawn and painted time and time again since, and for that reason I studiously avoided it for many years. Finally, wearing wellingtons, I set up my easel in the water to tackle this particular angle. This ancient gritstone segment was curved by craftsmen to compass the little River Kinder in its final surge to obscurity at its confluence with the Sett. Its slender arch forms a bridge across time, being a historic link with the bygone age when it was part of the swiftest route across the Pennines for the textile packhorse trains. And there it still stands, a gritty and gracious monument to the skill of its builders and the adventurous drovers of the Peak.’

Brian Nolan