November 18, 2020.
ALLGREAVE, BURNTCLIFF TOP, GRADBACH, BACK FOREST WOOD, LUD'S CHURCH, HANGINGSTONE, DANEBRIDGE, WINCLE, ALLMEADOWS, CLOUGH BROOK, THE ROSE AND CROWN AT ALLGREAVE
Distance: 8 miles.
Difficulty: Easy.
Weather: Mainly dry but cloudy: drizzle for last 15 minutes.
Leader: Cunliffe (with Daisy). Diarist: Hart.
Starting point: Top car park of The Rose and Crown at Allgreave, near Macclesfield.
Starting time: 9.50am. Finishing time: 1.45pm.
Once again the current lockdown rules reduced us to one trailblazer and one diarist for this route which has been neglected in recent times. Apart from the start and finish, which involved road-walking, we enjoyed following trails through moorland, meadows and woods as well as paying a visit to a unique church which is steeped in folklore.
During the journey we noticed four individuals, Chris Owen, Jock Rooney, Keith Welsh and Dave Willetts, were following us at a safe distance throughout.
Heavy rain and strong winds had been forecast for later in the day and as we finished the light drizzle which had fallen for the last half mile transformed itself into serious precipitation. We were relieved that a planned loop which would have taken us to The Roaches and added three miles to the hike had been shelved because of the predictions.
From the pub car park we walked down to a minor road and turned left towards Quarnock, passing Midgley Farm on our right and a cottage on our left which was once a pub called The Eagle and Child at Helmesley (24mins). The childlike sketch illustrating the hostelry's former name is still above the door.
After passing Burn't Cliff Top we reached Midgeley Gate Barn where we turned right at a green public footpath sign (31mins). This led us through a farmyard which we exited by a stone step stile marked with a yellow arrow (33mins). With a drystone wall on our right we carried on briefly before crossing it by another stone step stile marked with a yellow arrow.
The path headed diagonally right downhill through ferns before we crossed a footbridge (42mins) over the River Dane and emerged by a former silk mill, later Gradbach Youth Hostel, and more recently an outdoor education centre. Opposite the front of the building was a wooden signpost pointing to Lud's Church, Danebridge and The Roaches.
Following this to the left of a cafe area we reached a stone step stile which we crossed and headed right towards a a footbridge.
We crossed this and headed uphill into Back Forest Wood where we saw and followed a wooden sign for Lud's Church. Reaching a rock formation on our right, and after pausing for photographs and views across the valley, we turned left (74mins) and reached the entrance to Lud's Church on our right (80mins)
The “church” is in fact a deep chasm penetrating the gritstone bedrock created by a massive landslip on the hillside. It is believed that Christians known as Lollards, who followed the teachings of the Oxford philosopher John Wycliffe (1320-84) held secret services here.
Wycliffe was an early dissident who opposed papal authority and corruption in monasteries. His views ultimately led to the Protestant Reformation. After he translated the Latin Bible into vernacular English his followers were called Lollards, a pejorative term for those without academic backgrounds. It came to mean heretic.
Among many legends surrounding Lud's Church are that Robin Hood and his Merry Men and centuries later Bonnie Prince Charlie hid in the chasm to escape the authorities.
Another piece of folklore claims that a horse called Lud shied and threw its rider to his death in the cleft. Subsequently the huntsman's ghost, covered from head to toe in moss, still roams the woods where he is known as The Green Man.
Around 1862 a wooden figurehead from the ship Swythamley was installed in a high niche above the chasm by landowner Philip Brocklehurst. It was called Lady Lud and supposed to commemorate the death of the daughter of a Lollard preacher.
At the far end of the chasm we stopped for Pietime before swinging left along a path which brought us back to our original entry point from where we retraced our footsteps back to the rock formation (87mins) and followed the sign straight ahead for Swythamley.
Just beyond a side path on the right leading to a gate, which we ignored, we crossed a stone step stile on our right and entered a field (99mins). The well-trodden path led us to the back of Hangingstone, a distinctive landmark overlooking Swythamley Hall, home of the Brocklehurst family who owned The Roaches estate until the death of the last in line in 1978. On the far side of the rock are two memorial plaques. The first reads:
Beneath this rock on August 1, 1874, was buried
BURKE
A noble mastiff black and tan.
Faithful as woman, braver than man.
A gun and a ramble his heart's desire
With the friend of his life
The Swythamley squire.
Beyond it is a memorial to Lt-Col Henry Courtney Brocklehurst of the 10th Royal Hussars, a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps from 1916-18 and Game Warden of The Sudan. Born in 1888 in Swythamley and killed on active service in Burma on commando in June, 1942.
From beneath Hangingstone we ignored the direct route downhill, which would have been treacherous in the muddy conditions, opting for a gentler descent diagonally left to a track, adding 200 yards to our journey as the price of our safety. We turned right across a cattle-grid (115mins) after Tom had spent a considerable time studying first his map and then a phone app.
Alas and alack ! When we eventually set off and reached a wooden stile to turn left, our leader realised he had left behind his poles, necessitating a 600-yards round trip to retrieve them. We now crossed the stile (130mins) and followed a wooden public footpath sign for Danebridge. Another wooden stile took us further downhill through a wood (134mins). We reached a path and turned left (139mins)
This path soon brought us out on a road where we turned right to cross the Dane. Ascending a hill along the road we passed The Ship Inn at Wincle on our right and after passing its car park we turned right up a flight of steps marked with a green public footpath post. This led us into a field where we paused for a beer break (150mins)
Continuing we crossed the field towards a copse where we located a wooden stile and a footbridge (155mins) before exiting the trees by another wooden stile. In the next field we kept to the left before crossing a stone step stile on our left to enter a farmyard (161mins) and leave it by turning right along a lane.
After passing through a gate we turned left and left again at another wooden gate (162mins). After going through a kissing gate we passed Clough Brook Cottage on our right (172mins), reached the main A54 road (173mins) and turned right. We crossed Clough Brook and headed uphill passing a whitewashed cottage built in 1746 and the Allgreave Methodist Church.
The steep climb ended when the road turned sharply left with The Rose and Crown and its car park on our right (183mins).
"Meanwhile the alternative walkers enjoyed a dry seven-mile hike starting from the Whaley Bridge - Macclesfield road and heading up Windgather Rocks and back via Taxal.
Next week's walk will start at 9.50am from the free car park at Crowden next to Torside Reservoir on the A628 towards Barnsey three miles east of Tintwistle (Postcode SK13 1HZ). Tom will be attempting to lead me along The Pennine Way through Oaken Clough and Laddow Rocks to Black Hill, returning via Tooleyshaw Moss, Westend Moss, Hey Moss and Hey Edge.
Happy wandering !
map by Tom Cunliffe
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