Chapel-en-le-Frith

CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH, HIGHER HALLSTEADS FARM, DOVE HOLES, BULL RING NEOLITHIC HENGE, WANTED INN AT SPARROWPIT, RUSHUP, BAGSHAW HALL, BOWDEN HALL AND THE ROEBUCK INN AT CHAPEL

Distance: 8-9 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Dry, blue skies with cloud and sunshine.

Walkers: Colin Davison, Alan Hart, Jock Rooney with Tips, and George Whaites.

Leader: Davison. Driver: Whaites. Diarist: Hart.

B Walkers: John Laverick, Ken Sparrow, Geoff Spurrell and Mike Walton.

Apologies: Peter Beal (narrow-boating), George Dearsley (cold), Lawrie Fairman (Anglesey hols).

Starting point: Chapel Miry Meadow free car park, Chapel-en-le-Frith.

Starting time: 9.25am. Finishing time: 2.37pm.

Once again Colin demonstrated his puppy-like enthusiasm and lack of leadership qualities in equal measure as we floundered through mud and head-high nettles to reach one pub too early and another too late.

Happily we were blessed with rare good weather at the end of a washout summer and enjoyed some stunning views of the hills and valleys surrounding the self-styled “capital of the Peak District.” This made up in some measure for a day in which your diarist was stung in the face by nettles and zapped by an electrified stile.

The B walkers also experienced an incident-packed day with a lengthy bus journey due to road works, and a false start because of their inability to find the right path out of Dove Holes. With commendable adaptability, they resolved their problem by retiring to the nearest pub.

From the car park the A walkers set off away from the entrance to reach a footpath and turn right. This emerged to the left of The Roebuck where we were eventually to finish. We crossed the main road and entered Terrace Road, whose cobbles we followed downhill. This brought us to another major road where we turned left (5mins). After crossing the road we turned right at a green public footpath sign (6mins) which brought us into Park Road, across a stream and through a gate on our right (12mins).

We headed diagonally left for a marker post and soon encountered the sort of mud seen during The Battle of the Somme. We fought uphill through it until we reached the Manchester-Buxton rail line and went beneath the railway through a tunnel (25mins).

We continued uphill through a field and a gate to the right of a farm (29mins). We squeezed through a gap stile on our right and over a wooden stile (34mins). Looking back we had clear views of Ladder Hill, Coombs Reservoir, Bowstones, South Head, Eccles Pike and Cracken Edge.

After passing through a metal gate by the side of a stone step stile (38mins), we turned right uphill towards Dove Holes. We reached a T-junction and turned left (40mins). On our right we could see the ridge where the Castle Naze hill fort once stood.

We turned left at a stone step stile next to a metal gate (49mins) and went through a field, crossing a stile (52mins) and heading towards a farm building. We crossed a stone step stile to the right of a barn (55mins). Our quartet and Tips then had to run the gauntlet of a pack of snarling, tethered dogs who tried desperately to reach us as we passed Higher Hallsteads Farm (56mins).

Upon reaching Dove Holes (57mins) we turned left, passing Dove Holes Station on our right (67mins), and walking over a bridge across the Manchester-Buxton line. We turned left, passing the entrance to Horseshoe Avenue and reached the A6 at Hallsteads. We crossed the road into the grounds of Dove Holes Community Association (71mins) and carried on to The Bull Ring, a Neolithic Henge which dates from 2,600-2,000 BC.

For centuries this elevated mound, 100 yards in diameter, has been the site of ritual activity. In celebration of ancient custom, we enjoyed our own ritual of Pietime, accompanied by Tia Maria (76mins).

After leaving the collective Neolithic burial ground, part of which is now a soccer pitch, we ignored a sign stating “ICI Private Property Keep Out” (80mins) and followed our leader as we took a precarious path downhill, with a dangerous drop to our right, and swung left to reach two wooden stiles to take us across a track (83mins).

We then headed up a little used path which had become overgrown with nettles. It was difficult to avoid a feeling of Schadenfreude as our shorts-wearing leader soldiered on with occasional girly squeals and obscenities.

As we crested a hill, a massive quarry came into view. We crossed a wooden stile and followed a white arrow taking us round the left side of the quarry (96mins). We reached a gravel track and turned left (100mins), then almost immediately right over a ladder stile.

After passing a shrine to someone’s father on our right, we kept a drystone wall on our right and then headed diagonally left to a stone step stile (106mins), the first of three which we crossed in quick succession.

This brought us to a gap stile (117mins), protected by a metal gate leaning across it. In trying to pull the gate away, your diarist received an electric shock because it was leaning against an electrified fence. On ascertaining that the land in question belonged to Barr Moor Farm, the offending gate was despatched into the field where it could not harm the next unsuspecting hiker.

We turned right along a farm track, through the farmyard (123mins) and left into a field. We could now see our first target, The Wanted Inn at Sparrowpit, ahead in the distance. We headed towards it through several fields and over many step stiles, passing a pair of friendly pigs en route.

On reaching the road, we turned left (133mins), passing the sign for Sparrowpit and arriving outside The Wanted Inn at 11.55am (136mins). We were obliged to sit outside in the now bright sunshine for five minutes until we heard the cheery sound of locks being unbolted.

The Wanted Inn has the distinction of being a watershed where any water thrown out of the back door finds its way through various rivers to The North Sea, whereas water jettisoned from the front door flows into The Irish Sea. Formerly called The Devonshire Arms, it was up for sale for two years and became known locally as “the unwanted inn.” When Robinsons, of Stockport, bought  it they renamed it The Wanted Inn.

After pints of Robinsons’ cask bitter at £2-60, we resumed our journey by turning right out of the front door, crossing the road and following a public footpath sign for Rushup and Castleton. After passing a farm on our right we went right uphill and crossed four sets of stone step stiles which took us to the right of a farmhouse.

After crossing yet another stone step stile we stopped for lunch (152mins) under blue skies and golden sun, while in the fields around us farmers were making hay. Continuing, we went over yet another stone step stile, then walked diagonally right to cross a wooden stile (162mins). Another wooden stile and stone step stile led us to a public footpath sign marked Chapel (166mins).

In the hamlet of Bagshaw we passed Peartree Cottage (168mins) and Bagshaw Hall on our right. We squeezed through a gap stile and along stepping stones (175mins), ignored an obvious left turn across planks and headed right in the opposite direction to find an obscure stone step stile (180mins) which we crossed.

 Another stile led us to a road where we turned right uphill away from Chapel (182mins). We turned left over a ladder stile, through a field and a metal gate (186mins). The path then took us past Bowden Hall on our left and to a path on our right (200mins).

We turned left off this path by a wooden gatepost (201mins), and after walking underneath the A6 viaduct went over a stone step stile and turned left (206mins).

Our route took us past Waterside Cottage and then we turned right immediately after a derelict building (207mins) up a path through head-high nettles. The path was also made treacherous by brambles and it would have come as no great surprise if we had been attacked by that legendary pygmy tribe, The Fukawees.

We crossed the main road to hack our way through more stinging, scratching foliage until we emerged in a new stone-built housing estate at Burnside Avenue (212mins). After the road had crossed a stream we turned right along a path which emerged on a road. We crossed this road into Burrfields Road (215mins), passing Chapel Parish Church on our right (220mins).

This brought us into Market Place (221mins) and straight on to The Roebuck (223mins), where the B walkers were already ensconced and enjoying pints of Tetleys’ cask bitter at £2-70 with mild at £2-45. We learned the B walkers had endured a lengthy bus journey from Hazel Grove, interrupted by road works and temporary traffic lights.

After an abortive attempt to negotiate their way out of the Bull Ring at Dove Holes, they had taken the sensible decision to repair to The Wheatsheaf for further discussion. They decided there was insufficient time and too much distance involved in joining the A-teamers at The Wanted Inn. So they walked some five miles along a meandering route back to Chapel and The Roebuck.

HISTORICAL NOTE: Chapel-en-le-Frith, which translates as Chapel in the Forest, was created in the 12^th Century by the Norman conquerors. It started life as a hunting lodge. The first chapel, built by the Normans, was replaced with a larger building and the current church, which dominates the town, was built almost entirely in the 18^th Century. Buried in the churchyard are the bodies of Scottish soldiers who marched south with the Duke of Hamilton to support Charles 1 in 1648. After their defeat at the Battle of Preston, the surviving prisoners were marched to Chapel and kept in the church for 16 days in squalid conditions. Forty of them died. On Shrove Tuesdays, a Pudding Bell is rung at 11am to remind housewives to prepare their batter. Chapel has a local market on Thursdays and is the home of the Ferodo brake-lining factory. It is an anagram of Frood, the name of the firm’s 19^th Century founders, with an additional “e.” The company is now part of Federal-Mogul.

Bowden Hall was first built in the 15^th Century by Nicholas Bowdon (Spelling was clearly not his strong point). The original building was demolished in 1844 and replaced with the present stone mansion. It was once the home of Charlie Roberts, regarded by some as Manchester United’s greatest captain. He was the skipper from 1905-13 during which time the team gained promotion, won the First Division championship twice, and reached the 1908-9 FA Cup Final, which they won. Charlie was a union activist and became chairman of the Players Football Association in 1922.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.30am from the free car park in Hyde Bank Road, New Mills. It is anticipated we will reach The Devonshire Arms at Mellor for a swift one around 12.20pm and finish at The Royal Oak, New Mills at 2.15pm.