Brabyn's Park

September 2, 2015.

BRABYNS PARK, COMPSTALL, REDBROW WOOD, PEAK FOREST CANAL, HYDE BANK HOUSE, HYDE TUNNEL, ST CHAD’S WELL, CHADKIRK, OLD MANOR FARM, MIDDLEWOOD WAY, STOCKPORT GOLF CLUB, GOYT MILL, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, THE RING O’ BELLS AT MARPLE, PEAK FOREST CANAL, MARPLE LOCKS AND THE ROYAL SCOT AT MARPLE BRIDGE

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Blue skies and sunshine initially: rain after lunch.

Walkers: Mickey Barrett, Tom Cunliffe, Lawrie Fairman, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart and George Whaites.

B walkers: Tony Job, Terry Jowett and Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: Peter Beal (walking in Lake District), Steve Courtney (in France), Colin Davison (motor-cycling in Spain), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Julian Ross (w*^king).

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Brabyns Park, Marple Bridge.

Starting time: 9.30am. Finishing time: 2.25pm

Are Mickey and your diarist the victims of a conspiracy ? For the second time this summer we were abandoned by our leader. In June it was at the Church Inn, Chelmorton, where we were left behind, mapless and clueless. This time it was on a bench at the side of The Peak Forest Canal.

Fortunately we are sufficiently resourceful - possessed of rat-like cunning, some might say - to be able to overcome such challenges. Nevertheless it leaves us feeling unloved.

After a dull start the day had soon brightened up with warm sunshine burning away the cloud cover as we walked in spectacular rural scenery within a few hundred yards of suburbia. We also passed the childhood home on the outskirts of Romiley of a woman who became queen of England.

Later we paused at a well dedicated to St Chad, a 7^th Century Anglo Saxon scholar who was credited with introducing Christianity to the kingdom of Mercia. More of this history later.

From the car park we followed the path into the park, passing soccer pitches before exiting the park to our right and reaching the road where we turned left (14mins). After passing the sign for Compstall we turned left to enter Redbrow Wood on the right bank of the River Etherow (17mins).

We crossed two wooden stiles and followed a wooden public footpath sign marked Valley Way which took us through a farmyard (32mins). We turned left over a wooden stile into a field (35mins) and crossed another wooden stile to walk under a massive railway viaduct (40mins). Moments later we were walking under an aqueduct and a path which took us to the left bank of the Peak Forest Canal (43mins).

Our group kept the canal on our right until we reached a farm-track (51mins) which passed Hyde Bank House on our left (55mins).

This was the childhood home of Anne Hyde, who became queen of England when she married James 11. Born in Windsor, the daughter of a lawyer, Anne lived here as a girl.

Her family fled to Holland after the execution of King Charles 1 and lived in Breda, where she became maid of honour to Mary, Princess of Orange. There she met and fell in love with James.

They married in some secrecy around midnight at Worcester House on The Strand, and two months later Anne had a child. The couple had a total of eight children, six of whom died in infancy.

James was a known philanderer with many mistresses and illegitimate children. But the married couple were affectionate, often kissing and cuddling in public to the outrage of some courtiers. Anne was thought to be responsible for converting James 11 to Catholicism after his coronation, leading to The Glorious Revolution which saw him deposed.

But Anne’s daughter Mary (1662-94) succeeded her father when she married her cousin, William of Orange, and they reigned together. Anne’s only other surviving child, Anne (1665-1714), married Prince George of Denmark and became the first monarch of Great Britain following The Act of Union in 1707.

Hyde Bank Farm, which we also passed, has a date-stone ARH 1655 which relates to the time Anne Hyde lived there. It is now used as a wedding venue.

Continuing our journey we forked left down a concrete track (56mins) and walked over the top of Hyde Tunnel to return to the left bank of the Peak Forest Canal. We soon went left down a flight of steps to reach the village of Chadkirk (66mins) where we turned left downhill.

We passed Bury Mewick Cottage on our right and then St Chad’s Well, which is believed to have healing powers following a blessing received from Chad, a former, monk, abbot, and bishop of Lichfield , who was canonised after his death.

St Chad, born in Northumbria in 634 and who died in Lichfield in 672, was the younger brother of Cedd. They were both prominent churchmen who featured in the works of The Venerable Bede and did much to spread the Gospel throughout 7^th Century England.

After passing the well we headed down a single-track lane and turned left to enter Chadkirk Gardens for pies and sherry (82mins).

There are records of a chaplain at Chadkirk dating back to 1347 but the chapel itself fell into decay and was used as a stable. The 16^th Century building was taken over by the Church of England in 1747 and repairs were carried out between 1761 and 1876. It was declared redundant in 1971 and transferred to Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. The building was restored again in 1995 and opened as a visitor attraction.

The oldest headstone in the graveyard belongs to Martha Gee, who died in 1762 aged five. Perhaps a more interesting one is that of Thomas Woolley, who died in 1870 aged 71 “caused by electric fluid in a thunderstorm.”

Resuming our walk we turned left out of the gardens and reached a main road (91mins) where we turned left. We crossed the road-bridge over the River Goyt, with its electricity generator on our right (94mins).

At the T-junction we crossed over into the drive leading to Old Manor Farm (106mins). The path took us through a field where eventually we found an exit in the middle of the hedgerow covered by a gate made from a pallet (110mins). At the end of the path was a kissing gate on the right which we crossed and went over a bridge above the Middlewood Way.

We turned right to walk down steps to the Middlewood Way and turned left (115mins). We turned left again at a wooden public footpath sign and entered Stockport Golf Course (122mins). We followed a path on the left through trees (125mins) and then crossed the course to the left by heading for a giant mill.

This brought us to the Macclesfield Canal where we turned left (132mins). We passed the Goyt Mill on our right and exited the canal after going under Bridge 2 and taking the winding cobbled path on our left (145mins). This brought us out opposite the Ring O’ Bells at Marple (146mins).

Here we enjoyed excellent pints of Robbies’ bitter for £3 and more bowls of chips provided by Mark, which we shared with the B team. Leaving the pub we went back to the Macclesfield Canal and followed its right bank until we swung left at a bridge where it joined the Peak Forest Canal (150mins).

At a handy bench we stopped for lunch as rain began to fall, gently at first but soon more heavily. As Mickey and your diarist donned their waterproofs, the other A-teamers made off and we never saw any of them again until we met the B team and Mark in The Royal Scot. The abandoned ones had scampered along the canal bank past Marple Locks hoping to catch up their hasty colleagues.

But by the time we reached Marple Aqueduct we realised they must have turned away from the canal. Using instinct alone, we made our way through Bredbury and Romiley to catch a bus back to Marple Bridge.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.35am outside The Lantern Pike Inn at Little Hayfield, Derbyshire. The route taken will lead to The Lamb Inn at Chinley around 12.15pm, returning to the Lantern Pike at about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !