Via Gellia

Via Gellia is a limestone valley in the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. It is named after Phillip Eyre Gell, who built the road running the valleys' course in 1790. As Gell claimed Roman descent the naming was latinised. The road (now the A5012) connected all of Gell's lead mines around Wirksworth to the new smelter at Cromford, but the route may have been used as early as 1720 for transporting stone from the Gell's quarries at Hopton. The valley is believed to have been mined before Roman times. Today, the road has developed a reputation as being dangerous with a disproportionately high casualty rate, due to its narrowness, heavy goods use and its canopy of overhanging trees resulting in a persistently damp surface.