BRABYNS PARK, MARPLE BRIDGE, HOLLYWOOD,
MELLOR CHURCH, DEVONSHIRE ARMS AT MELLOR, SNAPE HEY FARM, MELLOR AND
TOWNSCLIFFE GOLF COURSE, LINNET CLOUGH SCOUT CAMPSITE, ROMAN LAKES, PEAK FOREST
CANAL, RING O’ BELLS AT MARPLE, MARPLE LOCKS AND NORFOLK ARMS AT MARPLE BRIDGE
Distance: 8 Miles.
Difficulty: Strenuous.
Weather: Cool and cloudy but dry.
Walkers: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe, Colin
Davison, Alan Hart, John Laverick and George Whaites.
B walkers: Tony Job, Peter Morrall, Ken
Sparrow, Geoff Spurrell and Mike Walton.
Apologies: Mickey Barrett (hols), George
Dearsley (w*^king in Istanbul), Lawrie Fairman (Riviera hols), Jock Rooney
(w*^king in South Africa) and Julian Ross (no reason given but probably
w*^king).
Leader:
Davison. Diarist: Hart.
Starting point: Brabyns Park at Marple
Bridge.
Starting time: 9.32am. Finishing time: 2pm.
With starting time upon us, a car screeched
to a halt and our leader for the day emerged spluttering protests about a
change of venue. He was under the
illusion that a drunken conversation at the end of last week’s walk would be
remembered in its entirety and that he would, therefore, not need to read the
final paragraph of the diary WHICH FIRMLY STATED THAT THE WALK WOULD COMMENCE
AT 9.30AM IN BRABYNS PARK.
Colin, you may recall, was returning on
probation after his leadership qualities had been called into question as a
result of a series of mistimings and misjudgements on earlier occasions.
Because he had not become aware of the clearly stated starting point until 9am,
Colin had not prepared his walk and announced he would have to “wing it.” From
past experience we rather feared this might be in the style of Icarus, but to
give him credit we did reach our main targets (the two pubs) a few minutes
ahead of schedule.
Colin’s love of hills involved us in
another rollercoaster ride so although the walk was not long, it proved to be
challenging.
After leaving the car park by walking back
to the entrance and turning left, we crossed the River Goyt where a team of
demolition men were working on a subsiding bank. Interestingly, one of these
men supported by a safety harness and wearing a high-vis jacket, was trying to
dislodge a massive rock above him.
We turned right at The Norfolk Arms up Town
Street and then left up Hollins Lane, passing Marple Bridge United Reform
Church on our left. Complaints about the first mile of the walk being purely
along roads soon abated when, despite unseasonably dry weather, Colin found a
succession of muddy paths and fields.
At the junction with Ley Lane we turned
right (23mins) and then left at a public footpath sign (24mins). This took us
up a gravel track for 30 yards and then we turned right, passing a row of
cottages on our right.
We crossed a stile to turn right again and
passed a pond on our right (28mins). We crossed a stile marked with a yellow
arrow and then turned left down Hollywood Lane (34mins). Opposite Bridge House
(35mins) we turned right across a wooden stile following a public footpath sign
for Marple.
This brought us to a path between two
drystone walls. We turned left at a wooden public footpath sign (41mins),
crossed a wooden stile and followed a wooden public footpaths sign which
pointed indistinctly in the direction of Longhurst Lane. On our right were a
series of chicken coops which we surmised were for the purpose of breeding rare
species. They were all fenced separately with chicken wire which Peter B
decided were designed as “anti-hanky panky” to prevent cross-breeding.
Two ponds had been created on the right for
ducks and geese, and to our left were a row of seven beehives. Somebody seemed
to be emulating the much-loved sitcom “The Good Life.” We turned left at the
beehives (48mins) along a path which took us through a gate and a stableyard
(53mins), turning left at a public footpath sign towards Mellor Church
(54mins).
St Thomas's Church, Mellor
After trudging up the steep hill to reach
the historic church and graveyard, we were allowed no respite but herded along
like American tourists “doing Europe.” There was deemed no time to catch our
breath or even look at the replica of a Bronze Age house there as we plunged
downhill again and after 100 yards turned right across a wooden stile (70mins).
After going through a gate and squeezing
through a gap stile we turned left downhill (73mins) and emerged at a road with
The Devonshire Arms on our right. Curly-top dismissed the idea of pausing for
Pietime on the convenient benches outside the pub and pressed on across the
road to follow a sign for Linnet Clough (77mins).
We turned left into Whetmorhurst Lane
(82mins) and left again after 20 yards at a wooden public footpath sign which
took us up a muddy path into a farmyard. After turning right through a gate
(89mins) we stopped by a wall for our pie break (90mins). Not for the first
time on our journeys, Tom disappeared from our sight (but sadly not our
hearing) after borrowing some tissues.
We continued past Moorhead Cottage on our
left, where Colin bought six free range eggs for £1, and turned right at a
public footpath sign to go through Snape Hey Farm (96mins). Two wooden stiles
brought us to Mellor and Townscliffe golf course (102mins) which we crossed
along a right of way and then passed Linnet Clough scout camp on our right.
Our group entered Roman Lakes Leisure Park
(116mins) and crossed the Goyt by a road bridge before heading up steps on our
left marked with a yellow arrow (118mins). This took us uphill to a footbridge
across the Manchester-Sheffield railway line (122mins). At the top of a set of
steps on the far side we turned left, crossed a main road and continued to
climb uphill (127mins).
This brought us out at The Peak Forest
Canal. This is a 15-mile waterway which was started in 1794, first used in 1796
and completed in 1805. The main shareholder was Samuel Oldknow and the
principal engineer was Benjamin Outram. The Lower Peak Forest Canal runs from
Dukinfield Junction, where it joins the Ashton Canal, to the foot of Marple’s
16 locks. The Upper Peak Forest Canal runs from Marple, where it is linked to
the Macclesfield Canal, to Bugsworth Basin, from where a branch leads to the
centre of Whaley Bridge.
The canal was another victim of the success
of the railway system. In the 1920s the Peak Forest Tramways and Buggy Basin
closed and by the 1960s the canal had become impassable. But after restoration
work it was reopened in 1974 for the use of pleasure craft.
After joining the canal at Bridge 19 we
walked along the towpath with the water on our right to reach its junction with
The Macclesfield Canal at Bridge 1. We continued along the left bank until the
first exit opposite The Ring O’ Bells (137mins).
Here the Robbies’ mild at £2-60 a pint and
the bitter at £2-85 were deemed to be in excellent form. We drank in The Bell
Room where a photo of the many men of Marple who fell during World War 1 was
updated with a separate photo of Corporal Danny Winter, aged 18, who was killed
in action in Afghanistan in 2009.
We rejoined the canal at Bridge 2 and
walked along its right bank before
leaving at Bridge 3 to walk down Marple Locks, pausing for lunch on Lock 12
(142mins).
Continuing we carried on along the canal until reaching Station Road
(150mins). We crossed and joined the right bank of the canal, leaving it at
Lock 7 and crossing a bridge over the Manchester-Sheffield line with Marple
Station on our right (163mins).
On reaching a point overlooking a football
pitch at Brabyns Park below us, we turned right (169mins) to return to our cars
(172mins). After debooting, we joined the B walkers in The Norfolk Arms.
They had arrived at Brabyns Park by car and
caught a bus to Shiloh Road, near Rowarth, from where they had walked to Mellor
Church and the village of Hollywood before pausing for drinks in The George at
Compstall.
They had then walked back over the iron bridge through Brabyns Park,
an estate of 95 acres.
The land had contained Brabyns Hall, built
in the 1740s for Dr Henry Brabin, a local surgeon. During World War 1 it served
as an auxiliary hospital and convalescent home for wounded soldiers.
Iron Bridge
Its last
owner was Miss Fanny Hudson, who died in 1941 aged 90, leaving the hall and
estate to be bought by local councils.
There were plans to convert the hall into
an art gallery, museum, library or assembly hall when it was bought in 1949.
Three years later it was found to be riddled with dry rot and the hall was
demolished.
Several cask beers brewed in Sheffield were
available at The Norfolk Arms at £3 a pint.
Next week’s A walk will start at 9.30am
from the car park of The Horseshoe on the A6 at High Lane, with a half-time
stop at The Dandy Cock around 12.15pm before returning to The Horseshoe at
about 2.20pm.
