Marple Bridge

MARPLE BRIDGE

November 13, 2019

BRABYNS PARK IN MARPLE BRIDGE, ETHEROW COUNTRY PARK, ERNOCROFT WOOD, ERNOCROFT FARM, BROWN LOW, SMITHY LANE, MELLOR HALL, MELLOR CHURCH, DEVONSHIRE ARMS, TARDEN, BOTTOM'S HALL, ROMAN LAKES, OLDKNOW'S MILL, MARPLE BRIDGE 

Distance: 8.5 miles​Ascent/descent: 1,250 ft

Difiiculty: Easy

Weather: Mainly dry and clear. Some rain at first.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Mickey Barrett, Alastair Cairns, Tom Cunliffe, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Graham Stone, Dean Taylor 

Alternative walkers: Colin Davison, Laurie Fairman

Apologies: Jock Rooney (Isle of Man), George Whaites (Canary Islands), Andy Blease (Grandparenting duties)

Leader: Beal​​Diarist: Beal

Starting point: Brabyns Park public car park, Marple Bridge

Starting time: 9.41am ​Finishing time: 2.10pm

Despite a most unpromising start with persistent rain and low cloud as we gathered for the start in Marple Bridge, the skies soon cleared and while not sunny, it was bright - affording us splendid views of the surrounding countryside, Manchester and the Cheshire Plain.

The heavy rain of the past few days had swollen the streams and rivers, but apart from a couple of boggy fields and a deepish ford crossing we were able to avoid the worst of the wet.

We enjoyed a couple of fine pubs, one of which - the Devonshire Arms at Mellor - appeared to be thriving after its recent expensive refurbishment.

We left the Brabyns Park car park, much frequented by dog-walkers, at the far end and took a metalled track running parallel to the Peak Forest canal. This split at some houses and we took the right fork, skirting a barrier, which took us across playing fields, some of which were under water after the recent heavy rains.

We crossed a small bridge and then immediately a larger, more modern one spanning the River Goyt just to the east of its confluence with the Etherow. The River Mersey is generally regarded as starting in Stockport at the junction of the Goyt and the River Tame - although apparently older maps show the Mersey carrying the name downstream from this point.

Building date on wall

View of Manchester from Linnet Clough

Labour voting Roman soldier outside Mellor church

We left the park here and joined a track that soon brought us to the Marple to Romiley road. We turned left here past the rather forlorn site of the former George pub, once a regular starting point for the Wanderers.

We continued alongside the high brick wall of a former mill before turning right in to the car park of the Etherow Country Park (20 minutes). The country park was one of the first of its kind in the country and attracts 250,000 visitors a year. It includes a sailing club and a model boat club.

We walked with the lake on our left past the sailing club and at the end of the lake continued along the track with a canal feeder on our left and the fast-flowing River Etherow below us on our right. The canal took water from the river and was used to power 'Big Lily', a giant water wheel used by the mill-owning Andrews family, which was turned by 50 million gallons a day.

Here we saw three fine specimens of plump and brightly coloured Mandarin ducks among the more mundane mallards in the canal.

The track ended at a massive circular weir, down which was pouring so much water that the spray could be felt from the bridge above (41 min). We took a track to the right here, signed to Glossop Road. This climbed steadily through the delightful Ernocroft Wood for some time, before emerging on the Marple to Glossop Road (61 min).

Here we turned right for a short distance before crossing a rickety stile on the left in to a field. The path climbed briefly before slanting left on a boggy grassy incline towards a house. We went through a rusty gate here and reached a minor road, where we turned right past Ernocroft Farm and two tethered noisy dogs.

Soon after this we took a stile on the left and climbed steadily up a track, passing numerous rusting old vehicles and farm machinery. The farmer has clearly ruled himself out of the Tidy Farm of the Year awards.

We reached another stile at a four-way track junction, whre pietime was enjoyed (83 min). We were joined here by Laurie and Colin, arriving across the fields from the opposite direction, having parked at Rowarth.

From here we turned sharp right, almost back on ourselves, and soon reached the wooded height of Brown Low, where a rounded Bronze Age barrow, or burial mound, could be seen in the trees.

This was apparently excavated in 1810 by the Vicar of Disley, a Rev Marriott, but it was poorly managed and resulted in considerable damage to the site after his work attracted the attention of a horde of locals.

We skirted the wood and continued downhill along a very wet path through fields before reaching a lane (96 min). We turned left here and soon after took a right turn down Smithy Lane. This continued down past several converted farms, before becoming rough and climbing to join a road. Just before the road we had to ford a dip filled with what appeared to be a daunting amount of water, but which proved negotiable with the help of some rock-hopping.

We turned right here (123 min) and continued along the quiet minor road, and on to a track  passing Horsepool Cottage and climbing to the imposing Mellor Hall, now converted in to several fine homes. The hall's rooms are apparently panelled with the former choir stalls from Manchester Cathedral.

The path took us through the buildings and bore left along a metalled track. At the end of this we turned right and soon reached Mellor Church (135 min), enjoying a commanding view over the surrounding countryside. Its 14th century wooden pulpit is the oldest in England and possibly, it is claimed, the world.

Next to the church is the site of a former Iron Age hill fort and village that has now been developed as an attraction, complete with replica rude dwelling.

We took the minor road downhill, using a footpath at the side, and emerged in Mellor next to the Devonshire Arms (150 min), a recently refurbished Robinson's pub doing a roaring trade in lunches and serving excellent Unicorn and Dizzy Blonde at £3-60 and £3-80 respectively. Laurie and Colin were already there, having taken a more direct route from our pietime stop.

Resuming, we crossed the road and took the minor road of Gibb Lane opposite the pub. At a fork we bore right on a lane taking us down through the Mellor and Townscliffe golf course. We passed the clubhouse away on our right and reached the extensive Linnet Clough scout camp after which we had a brief lunch stop.

Here the stony track became rougher and descended gradually before it passed the buildings of Bottom's Hall and reached a broader track between the two large ponds known as the Roman Lakes. These owe nothing at all to Roman origins, but were the mill ponds for Samuel Oldknow's nearby mill, and named by a Victorian entrepreneur as a way of attracting visitors to the boating lake.

We arrived at Oldknow's Mellor Mill site, which is being excavated by a local history society, and turned right here uphill. The track descended and soon emerged near the centre of busy little Marple Bridge (201 min).

It was at this exact spot that your diarist, in his former existence as a journalist, recalled covering an election campaign visit by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1992 when she was attacked by an angry local woman with a bunch of daffodils. The Iron Lady emerged none the worse from the incident. The fate of the daffodils was not recorded.

A short stroll down the main street brought us to the quirky Norfolk Arms, where five of our number enjoyed some of an unusual but tasty range of real ales. We then made the short walk back to our cars to deboot.

Next week's walk, led by Chris, will start at 9.40am at the lay-by at the top of the Ridgegate reservoir at Langley near Macclesfield, beyond the Leather's Smithy pub (postcode SK11 ONE). After ascending Shutlingsloe, en route refreshments will be at the Ryle's Arms, and the Leather's Smithy at the end.

:: Diary date. It was agreed that the Wanderers' Christmas lunch will be at the Wilfred Wood Wetherspoon's pub in Hazel Grove at 2.30pm on December 11. The walk beforehand will be from Torkington Park, calling at the Ring o' Bells in Marple.

Happy wandering!