Poynton Pool

POYNTON POOL, HIGHER POYNTON, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, LADYBROOK TRAIL, LYME PARK, LYME CAGE, LYME HALL, DEER PARK, BOAR’S HEAD AT HIGHER POYNTON, MIDDLEWOOD WAY, LADYS INCLINE AND BULL’S HEAD AT POYNTON.

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Early cloud giving way to blue skies and sunshine.

Walkers: Mickey Barrett, Chris Corps, Nigel Crank, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Alan Hart, John Laverick, Julian Ross and George Whaites.

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

Apologies: Peter Beal (narrow-boating), George Dearsley (w*^king), Lawrie Fairman (Hungarian hols), Jock Rooney (w*^king in Turkey).

Withdrawal of apology: Colin Davison (not sailing after all).

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Poynton Pool car park off Anglesey Drive.

Starting time: 9.38am. Finishing time: 2pm.

We welcomed another newcomer to the Wednesday Wanderers on an ideal day for walking. Chris Corps made his debut, stepping straight into the A team, and appeared to find no difficulty in keeping up with a brisk pace.

This gave us a good turnout of eight A walkers, and we soon had one over the eight when we encountered a marooned mariner en route. 

The ideal walking weather also produced perfect drinking conditions and we ended the day on a high note when Barbara and Sally Bromley once again produced two platters of sandwiches as a goodwill gesture. They hope to see us again. They surely will.

Poynton Pool was once an attractive feature in the estate of Poynton Hall, the home of Lord Vernon, who was lord of the manor. In 1850 Bagshaw’s Directory described Poynton as a compact village near the Macclesfield branch of the London and North Western Railway.

In 1841 it contained 152 houses and 854 inhabitants on 2,400 acres of good, well-drained land. “Its subterranean wealth far exceeds that on the surface,” the directory declared, following the discovery of rich seams of coal beneath the farmland. Although much of the coal was worked out at the start of the last century and its 71 pits closed down, Poynton continued to grow because of its proximity to Manchester (20 minutes by train for commuters) to the north and to the spectacular countryside of the Peak District to the south and east. It now has a population around 16,000.

From the car park we crossed Anglesey Drive and walked between the trees separating London Road North on the left from its houses on the right. This brought us out on Towers Road, where we turned right. After passing South Park Drive on our right we reached a bungalow on our right which was once the site of Towers Hall, from which Towers Drive derived its name. Like Poynton Hall, it has long been demolished, but one interesting remnant survives.

By turning left through a kissing gate (10mins) to join a public footpath, we soon reached a mound on our right. This hid a flight of steps down to a grilled door on the far side which had once been the entrance to “The Ice House” – a cool storage facility for the family and servants of Towers Hall.

We continued straight ahead through a series of fields via gates and stiles until we emerged at The Macclesfield Canal (42mins) and turned left along the towpath. At the first bridge across the canal (Bridge 13) we turned left to go back over it and there encountered Colin (47mins).

He explained that his catamaran trip across the North Sea to Holland scheduled to start on Monday had been postponed for four days because the boat involved was blocked by another vessel and could not reach any water to start its journey. Colin joined our group and before you could say “Hello sailor!” he was issuing orders.

For anyone who falls into obvious traps such as iced-over canals, it may have seemed cruel to lead Colin up the garden path, so to speak, but he does bring out the worst in your diarist. After crossing the bridge we rounded a World War 2 pillbox to follow the towpath with the canal now on our left. After 100 yards we reached a wooden footpath sign on our right and followed it into woodland which is part of the picturesque Ladybrook Trail.

The trail in turn crossed the Manchester-Buxton railway line (69mins) before leading us by a footbridge and a ladder stile into Lyme Park (72mins). Our journey had taken us gradually uphill, but now came a steeper ascent as we turned right at the entrance hut and made our way up to Lyme Cage (90mins).

By now the clouds were clearing and the sun was shining as we paused for pietime overlooking the countryside and landmarks below. Resuming, we walked down from Lyme Cage and passed the entrance to Lyme Hall, the ancestral home of the Legh family for more than 500 years until it was handed over to The National Trust in 1946.

It was decided to make a brief detour round the deer park, to the left of the hall, first passing the lake where Mr Darcy emerged with dripping breeches to melt the hearts of not only Elizabeth Bennett but also the millions of Jane Austen fans watching the series on BBC back in 1995. Continuing, we saw a herd of fallow deer grazing and sunbathing to our left before making two right turns to bring us back to our homeward route.

From the car park outside the kiosk and with the hall on our right, we turned left and followed the road round to the right. We forked right again to skirt the wall and headed downhill out of the park. Still going forward and still descending, we crossed the bridge over the Macclesfield Canal, passed the Nelson Pit museum on our right and reached the Boar’s Head on schedule at 12.15pm (146mins).

Here we enjoyed pints of Black Sheep, Thwaites or Wainwrights’ cask bitter at prices from £2-92 to £3-20. The B walkers had just pipped us to the bar from a stroll which had left Tony with a sore ankle. After the A Team had departed, three of them headed on a direct route to the Bull’s Head while Tony made his way by bus.

Meanwhile the main party walked back from the Boar’s Head to The Middlewood Way, which we joined and headed in the direction of Marple before stopping (152mins) at a bench for lunch. Resuming, we left at the first exit by going right and then left over a bridge leading into Green Lane.

We turned right along Green Lane, ignoring the first footpath on our left which would have led us to The Anson Museum. At the next footpath (162mins) we turned left and headed steadily downhill until we entered Woodside Road. At the end we joined the main road between Macclesfield and Hazel Grove and turned right.

We reached The Bull’s Head (189mins) at 2pm and enjoyed draught Bass and two other cask beers at £3 a pint. Barbara and Sally Bromley did us proud with two platters of home-made sandwiches.

This has raised the bar considerably for next week’s walk, which finishes at The Lantern Pike. At the time of writing Tom and your diarist are examining the logistics of an A team walk from Edale up along Kinder, ending in Little Hayfield, possibly starting with a train from New Mills Central station.

When arrangements have been finalised, you will be notified.