Brabyns Park

BRABYNS PARK, MARPLE BRIDGE, HOLLYWOOD, MELLOR CHURCH, DEVONSHIRE ARMS AT MELLOR, SNAPE HEY FARM, MELLOR AND TOWNSCLIFFE GOLF COURSE, LINNET CLOUGH SCOUT CAMPSITE, ROMAN LAKES, PEAK FOREST CANAL, RING O’ BELLS AT MARPLE, MARPLE LOCKS AND NORFOLK ARMS AT MARPLE BRIDGE

Distance: 8 Miles.

Difficulty: Strenuous.

Weather: Cool and cloudy but dry.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Alan Hart, John Laverick and George Whaites.

B walkers: Tony Job, Peter Morrall, Ken Sparrow, Geoff Spurrell and Mike Walton.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (hols), George Dearsley (w*^king in Istanbul), Lawrie Fairman (Riviera hols), Jock Rooney (w*^king in South Africa) and Julian Ross (no reason given but probably w*^king).

 Leader: Davison. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Brabyns Park at Marple Bridge.

Starting time: 9.32am. Finishing time: 2pm.

With starting time upon us, a car screeched to a halt and our leader for the day emerged spluttering protests about a change of venue.  He was under the illusion that a drunken conversation at the end of last week’s walk would be remembered in its entirety and that he would, therefore, not need to read the final paragraph of the diary WHICH FIRMLY STATED THAT THE WALK WOULD COMMENCE AT 9.30AM IN BRABYNS PARK.

Colin, you may recall, was returning on probation after his leadership qualities had been called into question as a result of a series of mistimings and misjudgements on earlier occasions.

Because he had not become aware of the clearly stated starting point until 9am, Colin had not prepared his walk and announced he would have to “wing it.” From past experience we rather feared this might be in the style of Icarus, but to give him credit we did reach our main targets (the two pubs) a few minutes ahead of schedule.

Colin’s love of hills involved us in another rollercoaster ride so although the walk was not long, it proved to be challenging.

After leaving the car park by walking back to the entrance and turning left, we crossed the River Goyt where a team of demolition men were working on a subsiding bank. Interestingly, one of these men supported by a safety harness and wearing a high-vis jacket, was trying to dislodge a massive rock above him.

We turned right at The Norfolk Arms up Town Street and then left up Hollins Lane, passing Marple Bridge United Reform Church on our left. Complaints about the first mile of the walk being purely along roads soon abated when, despite unseasonably dry weather, Colin found a succession of muddy paths and fields.

At the junction with Ley Lane we turned right (23mins) and then left at a public footpath sign (24mins). This took us up a gravel track for 30 yards and then we turned right, passing a row of cottages on our right.

We crossed a stile to turn right again and passed a pond on our right (28mins). We crossed a stile marked with a yellow arrow and then turned left down Hollywood Lane (34mins). Opposite Bridge House (35mins) we turned right across a wooden stile following a public footpath sign for Marple.

This brought us to a path between two drystone walls. We turned left at a wooden public footpath sign (41mins), crossed a wooden stile and followed a wooden public footpaths sign which pointed indistinctly in the direction of Longhurst Lane. On our right were a series of chicken coops which we surmised were for the purpose of breeding rare species. They were all fenced separately with chicken wire which Peter B decided were designed as “anti-hanky panky” to prevent cross-breeding.

Two ponds had been created on the right for ducks and geese, and to our left were a row of seven beehives. Somebody seemed to be emulating the much-loved sitcom “The Good Life.” We turned left at the beehives (48mins) along a path which took us through a gate and a stableyard (53mins), turning left at a public footpath sign towards Mellor Church (54mins).

St Thomas's Church, Mellor

After trudging up the steep hill to reach the historic church and graveyard, we were allowed no respite but herded along like American tourists “doing Europe.” There was deemed no time to catch our breath or even look at the replica of a Bronze Age house there as we plunged downhill again and after 100 yards turned right across a wooden stile (70mins).

After going through a gate and squeezing through a gap stile we turned left downhill (73mins) and emerged at a road with The Devonshire Arms on our right. Curly-top dismissed the idea of pausing for Pietime on the convenient benches outside the pub and pressed on across the road to follow a sign for Linnet Clough (77mins).

We turned left into Whetmorhurst Lane (82mins) and left again after 20 yards at a wooden public footpath sign which took us up a muddy path into a farmyard. After turning right through a gate (89mins) we stopped by a wall for our pie break (90mins). Not for the first time on our journeys, Tom disappeared from our sight (but sadly not our hearing) after borrowing some tissues.

We continued past Moorhead Cottage on our left, where Colin bought six free range eggs for £1, and turned right at a public footpath sign to go through Snape Hey Farm (96mins). Two wooden stiles brought us to Mellor and Townscliffe golf course (102mins) which we crossed along a right of way and then passed Linnet Clough scout camp on our right.

Our group entered Roman Lakes Leisure Park (116mins) and crossed the Goyt by a road bridge before heading up steps on our left marked with a yellow arrow (118mins). This took us uphill to a footbridge across the Manchester-Sheffield railway line (122mins). At the top of a set of steps on the far side we turned left, crossed a main road and continued to climb uphill (127mins).

This brought us out at The Peak Forest Canal. This is a 15-mile waterway which was started in 1794, first used in 1796 and completed in 1805. The main shareholder was Samuel Oldknow and the principal engineer was Benjamin Outram. The Lower Peak Forest Canal runs from Dukinfield Junction, where it joins the Ashton Canal, to the foot of Marple’s 16 locks. The Upper Peak Forest Canal runs from Marple, where it is linked to the Macclesfield Canal, to Bugsworth Basin, from where a branch leads to the centre of Whaley Bridge.

The canal was another victim of the success of the railway system. In the 1920s the Peak Forest Tramways and Buggy Basin closed and by the 1960s the canal had become impassable. But after restoration work it was reopened in 1974 for the use of pleasure craft.

After joining the canal at Bridge 19 we walked along the towpath with the water on our right to reach its junction with The Macclesfield Canal at Bridge 1. We continued along the left bank until the first exit opposite The Ring O’ Bells (137mins).

Here the Robbies’ mild at £2-60 a pint and the bitter at £2-85 were deemed to be in excellent form. We drank in The Bell Room where a photo of the many men of Marple who fell during World War 1 was updated with a separate photo of Corporal Danny Winter, aged 18, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2009.

We rejoined the canal at Bridge 2 and walked along its right bank  before leaving at Bridge 3 to walk down Marple Locks, pausing for lunch on Lock 12 (142mins). 

Continuing we carried on along the canal until reaching Station Road (150mins). We crossed and joined the right bank of the canal, leaving it at Lock 7 and crossing a bridge over the Manchester-Sheffield line with Marple Station on our right (163mins).

On reaching a point overlooking a football pitch at Brabyns Park below us, we turned right (169mins) to return to our cars (172mins). After debooting, we joined the B walkers in The Norfolk Arms.

They had arrived at Brabyns Park by car and caught a bus to Shiloh Road, near Rowarth, from where they had walked to Mellor Church and the village of Hollywood before pausing for drinks in The George at Compstall. 

They had then walked back over the iron bridge through Brabyns Park, an estate of 95 acres.

The land had contained Brabyns Hall, built in the 1740s for Dr Henry Brabin, a local surgeon. During World War 1 it served as an auxiliary hospital and convalescent home for wounded soldiers. 

Iron Bridge

Its last owner was Miss Fanny Hudson, who died in 1941 aged 90, leaving the hall and estate to be bought by local councils.

There were plans to convert the hall into an art gallery, museum, library or assembly hall when it was bought in 1949. Three years later it was found to be riddled with dry rot and the hall was demolished.

Several cask beers brewed in Sheffield were available at The Norfolk Arms at £3 a pint.

Next week’s A walk will start at 9.30am from the car park of The Horseshoe on the A6 at High Lane, with a half-time stop at The Dandy Cock around 12.15pm before returning to The Horseshoe at about 2.20pm.