B5023

Middleton by Wirksworth

The B5023 is a largely rural B-road in central Derbyshire.

It starts on the A6 to the south of Duffield and heads northwest along Broadway; its original southern end was closer to the village centre, heading along Wirksworth Road. Old and new routes rejoin on the western edge of Duffield and the road continues northwestwards, following the River Ecclesbourne and the preserved Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. Both of these are crossed after a couple of miles before the B5023 reaches a traffic-light-controlled crossroads on the A517 at Cowers Lane.

The B5023 continues north, crossing railway and river again before going through Idridgehay. A couple of miles further north the road enters Wirksworth. It meets the B5035 in the centre of town then TOTSOs left a short distance further on; the road ahead is the B5036.

The road then climbs out of the valley it has been following thus far. It goes under a low arched bridge carrying the High Peak Trail (a former railway line) before it meets the B5035 again at a crossroads. The B5023 continues through Middleton before descending, steeply at times, through a wood into a valley with the unusual name of Via Gellia (named in faux Latin by the landowner, whose surname was Gell). The road reaches a T-junction and TOTSOs right before ending on the A5012 at another T-junction immediately afterwards.