Bollington

June 6, 2018.

BOLLINGTON RECREATION GROUND , WHITE NANCY, KERRIDGE RIDGE, RAINOW, BULL HILL LANE, BRINK BARN, WALKER BARN, PEDLEY FOLD, THE ROBIN HOOD AT RAINOW, THE VIRGINS’ PATH, INGERSLEY VALE WATERFALL, THE VALE AT BOLLINGTON

Distance: 8-9 miles.

Difficulty: Easy after initial steep climb.

Weather: Warm and sunny with gentle breeze.

Walkers: Alastair Cairns, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman*, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, George Whaites and Lee Whittaker.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Turkish hols), Peter Beal, George Dearsley (in Turkey), Hughie Hardiman (filial duties), Steve Kemp, and Julian Ross (w*^king)

Leaders: Various. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Bollington Recreation Ground car park.

Starting time: 9.30am. Finishing time: 1.55pm.

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What a difference a week makes ! After the Wednesday Wanderers’ washout at the end of May, this first walk of June got the month off to a cracking start.

We welcomed two new recruits for this pleasant hike in ideal conditions. Lee Whittaker, a friend and former work colleague of Chris, made his debut as a Wednesday Wanderer. Tom arrived with a black bitch in his arms and introduced us to the one-year-old miniature poodle called Daisy owned by his wife Stella. We look forward to seeing more of both of them.

A new starting point had been selected for a tried and tested route and added about a mile to what might otherwise have been a very early finish. Our journey took us past an historic landmark, through fields containing cattle and ewes with their lambs, past a set of medieval stocks, the site of the stand-off between police and a notorious murderer, along an ancient path through meadows filled with buttercups and clover, and last, but by no means least, to two pubs selling cask bitter in top form.

We also welcomed back Lawrie, who returned from our trip to Croatia with a suppurating wound to his leg. He started from The Robin Hood and joined us for two miles and a soft drink in the pub before leaving for a medical appointment. We wish him a speedy recovery.

From the car park we crossed Bollington Recreation ground to reach the main road into the village and turned left. After passing The Spinners Arms on our right we took a step back in time as we entered the bakery of F.Smith to load up with hot pies (7mins). Continuing uphill we turned right into Church Lane (15mins) heading left at The Crown (18mins) and passed the oddly-named Lowlife Custom Van Company on our left.

Shortly afterwards we turned sharp right at a green public footpath sign (21mins) and began the steep climb to reach the local landmark White Nancy (35mins)

This is a folly built by a local landowner to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon by the Duke of Wellington at The Battle of Waterloo in 1815. It is believed the horse which carried the bricks up the hill to build the monument was a grey mare called Nancy.

After pausing to catch our collective breath and admire the breath-taking views (40mins) we continued along Kerridge Ridge, with the Hurdsfield Industrial Estate, home of Astra Zeneca, on our right and the picturesque village of Rainow below on our left. We followed the Gritstone Trail sign, passing the Trig Point (55mins) and reaching the main road through Rainow (70mins) for an early Pietime.

As we finished our pies, port and damson gin provided by Chris, an eccentric rider passed our group astride a huge shire horse and bade us Good Morning.

We turned right and after 80 yards turned left to head up steps into a field by the side of an easily-missed wooden public footpath sign (71mins). This took us to a road where we turned right uphill (76mins). At the top of Bull Hill Lane we turned left (88mins) and after 50 yards crossed the main road right to ascend a flight of steps by the side of a wooden public footpath sign (89mins)

The path took us over a wooden stile (91mins) which we crossed and turned immediately left, crossing two stone steps stiles and going through a metal gate to reach Brink Barn (100mins). The path went straight ahead between farm buildings and emerged back at the main road (104mins)

We crossed the road into Walker Barn and passed a building which was once The Setter Dog pub, but is now a private house. Just after the house we turned left at a green public footpath sign (107mins) and met Lawrie coming towards us. The ancient mariner then joined us to head back to Rainow. To do so we left the track just before a gate (113mins) and crossed a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (116mins) to enter and pass through a farmyard (125mins)

Our group, now nine homo sapiens and one canine, reached a green footpath sign by the side of a stone step stile on our left which we crossed (129mins). We now headed downhill over a series of wooden, ladder and stone stiles down clearly marked paths until we reached a wooden footbridge (143mins)

We climbed up to a stone step stile which we crossed and turned left down a lane (145mins) passing Thornsett Farm and Pedley Fold Farm on our right before reaching the main road and turning right (151mins). We passed Holy Trinity Church on our right before leaving the main road to join Stocks Lane on our left (154 mins)

The wooden stocks which gave the lane its name are still there on the right. Stocks were widely employed by the civil and military authorities from the 14^th Century to the 19^th Century. England’s Statute of Labourers 1351 prescribed their use for “unruly artisans” in every town and village. They were put in public places to humiliate offenders who could at best have their feet tickled and at worst have rotten fruit, vegetables and refuse thrown at them. Their last recorded use was in 1872 and they have never been formally repealed.

Just beyond the stocks we reached The Robin Hood (158mins) for excellent pints of Wainwrights at £3-20, which we enjoyed at trestle tables in the sunshine outside.

The peaceful scene was in sharp contrast to that one winter’s day in January, 1977, when a car chase ended near the pub where there was a 50-minute stand-off between Chief Inspector Peter House of the Derbyshire Police stationed in Buxton, and Billy Hughes, who had raped a young mother and slaughtered her family at their home, Pottery Cottage, near Chesterfield.

Hughes, 30, from Blackpool, was being escorted by two prison officers to stand trial for stabbing a man in the face and raping his girlfriend. He escaped after stabbing the warders with a knife and taking their vehicle. After crashing it on the icy roads, Hughes arrived at Pottery Cottage where he held Gill Moran, her parents, husband and 10-year-old daughter hostage for 55 hours.

One by one he stabbed the family members to death while repeatedly raping Mrs Moran. When her dying mother raised the alarm to neighbours, Hughes set off in the family car with Gill Moran as hostage. His getaway car crashed to a halt in Rainow. After lengthy negotiations Hughes shouted “Right. Your time’s up” and aimed a blow at Mrs Moran with an axe.

Chief Insp House dived through the car window and deflected the blow while his colleagues shot Hughes and killed him. Chief Inspector House was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery. A year later Gill Moran remarried.

Suitably refreshed we continued our journey by retracing our footsteps down Stocks Lane and turning right down Chapel Lane (161mins). We turned right into Sugar Lane (164mins) and turned right yet again at a green public footpath sign pointing to the back of a row of cottages (166mins)

This stone-flagged footpath has been known for centuries as The Virgins’ Path or The Bridal Path from the days when Rainow had no church. Village maidens clad in their white dresses had to tramp through muddy fields to reach the nearest church two miles away in Bollington. To spare their blushes when arriving for their weddings in sullied bridal gowns, local farmers laid flags through their fields leading to Bollington. Thus the brides-to-be arrived untarnished.

As we followed in their footsteps we walked through meadows bursting with buttercups and covered in white and purple clover before arriving at Ingersley Vale waterfall for lunch (178mins). Resuming we passed the derelict mill (182mins) and then The Crown on our right (186mins)

Instead of turning right we continued uphill to High Street, where we turned right (192mins). We turned left at the Queens Arms into Water Street (196mins), walked under the aqueduct carrying The Macclesfield Canal and turned right to head back across Bollington Recreation Ground to reach our cars (204mins)

 We enjoyed our final pints of White Nancy or Bollington Best cask bitter 80 yards away in The Vale, which is owned by the Bollington Brewery.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.55am outside The Red Lion at Litton, Derbyshire. We will be stopping for a livener at The George in Tideswell at about  12.40pm and finishing back at the Red Lion around 2.20pm.

Happy wandering !