Cat and Fiddle Inn

Coordinates: 53°14′32.78″N 1°59′48.51″W / 53.2424389°N 1.9968083°W / 53.2424389; -1.9968083

Plaque by the entrance

The Cat and Fiddle Inn is the second-highest inn or public house in England (the Tan Hill Inn being the highest). The inn is situated on the eastern fringes of Cheshire in the Peak District National Park on the A537 road just west of the Derbyshire/Cheshire county boundary, on the western side of Axe Edge Moor. It is at an elevation of 1,689 feet (515 m) above sea level (although a measurement commissioned by a former landlord suggested a figure of 1,772 feet (540 m), which would surpass that of the Tan Hill Inn^[1]). The Ordnance Survey have fixed an accurately measured flush-bracket benchmark to the front wall of the pub. The height of this flush bracket is 515.1984 metres (1,690 ft 3.40 in), and the flush bracket is 0.4 metres (16 in) above the ground level, which casts doubt over the validity of the private survey.^[2]

The inn is the last on the 45-mile (72 km) Four Inns Walk, held annually in spring, mainly over the high moorland to the north.

History

The pub was built in 1813. It closed in December 2015.^[3] As of April 2017, its future as a public house is uncertain, Robinsons Brewery stating in 2016 that it was "closed until further notice".^[4] In September 2016 a local newspaper reported that it would reopen, but no date was subsequently announced.^[5]

Cat and Fiddle Road

The inn gives its name to the Cat and Fiddle Road: a stretch of the A537 road, linking Macclesfield to the west with Buxton to the east, which features many sharp corners. This road became notorious for the high number of accidents, particularly among motorcyclists for whom the road is often regarded as an exhilarating technical challenge; an AA survey in 2003 named it as the most dangerous stretch of road in the United Kingdom.^[6]

Other pubs

There are several pubs of this name in the United Kingdom. For example, there is a Cat and Fiddle pub near Christchurch, currently owned by Harvester.^[7]

Various etymologies are claimed: some believe it is a corruption of le chat fidèle ('the faithful cat'); others (including Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable) that it comes from 'Caton le Fidèle' (a former governor of Calais); a third theory is that it derives from 'Catherine la Fidèle' (Catherine of Aragon).

References

1. ↑ Highest inn, The Angry Corrie, no. 54
2. ↑ OS Benchmark Database
3. ↑ Roper, Danielle (12 January 2016). "Mystery surrounds closure of England's second highest pub". Macclesfield Express. Retrieved 19 June 2016. 
4. ↑ "Cat and Fiddle Inn". Robinsons Brewery. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2017. 
5. ↑ Greer, Stuart (30 September 2016). "The iconic Cat and Fiddle pub to reopen". Macclesfield Express. Retrieved 22 October 2016. 
6. ↑ Road dubbed most dangerous in UK, BBC website
7. ↑ Harvester.co.uk