On the Moorland's Edge

About trip

Description: Hayfield was busy. It had cotton mills, papermaking mills and calico printing and dye factories. Hayfield had times of trouble. Floods washed away three bridges, even swept away some bodies from their churchyard graves. And in 1830 it resounded to marching feet of a thousand protesting mill workers, demanding a living wage. As was always the case in such times, the men were beaten back by soldiers and charged with civil disorder. Their industry went into a slow decline that would last a century, and Hayfield returned to its countryside ways. The Sett Valley Trail. The first part of the walk to little Lantern Pike follows the Sett Valley Trail, the trackbed of a railway that until 1970 linked Manchester and New Mills with Hayfield. At its peak the steam train would have brought thousands of people from Manchester. Today it’s a pleasant tree-lined track, working its way through the valley between the hills of Lantern Pike and Chinley Churn. The track, and its former wasteland surroundings, are becoming quite a haven for wildlife. Beneath the ash, sycamore, beech and oak you’ll see wood anemone, bluebells and wild garlic along with the rhubarb-like butterbur. In the days before fridges butterbur leaves were used to wrap butter to keep it cool. Lantern Pike: Lantern Pike is the middle of three ridges peeping through the trees, and by the time you get to Birch Vale you’re ready to tackle it. You ascend on a shady path through woods, then a country lane with wild flowers in the verges, and finally on heather and grass slopes to the rocky-crested summit. Lantern Pike’s name comes from the beacon tower that once stood on its summit. It had to be demolished in 1907 after falling into a dangerous state of disrepair. Having descended back down to the busy Glossop road the route then climbs up across Middle Moor where it enters a new landscape – one of expansive heather fields. Soon you’re on the skyline looking down on the Kinder and the ever-so-green valley beneath your feet. This seems to be complemented to perfection by the shapely and ever-sogreen peaks of Mount Famine and South Head. Into Modern Hayfield. You come down to Hayfield on the Snake Path, an old traders’ route linking the Sett and Woodland valleys. A fine street of stone-built cottages, with window boxes overflowing with flowers, takes you to the centre. This is a place where walkers come, and motorists take tea before motoring somewhere else. It’s all so very peaceful – now. While you're there: Take a look round Hayfield. It has many old houses, former industrial mills and cottages. The Pack Horse Inn on Kinder Road dates back to 1577. The Royal Hotel was visited by John Wesley in 1755 when it was still the local parsonage. Where to eat and drink: The Royal Hotel in Hayfield is spacious, comfortable and welcomes hungry walkers and families. Food is served daily in the bar and restaurant, and there’s patio seating outside. What to look out for: Lantern Pike was donated to the National Trust in 1950, after being purchased by subscription. It was to be a memorial to Edwin Royce, who fought for the freedom to roam these hills. A summit view indicator, commemorating her life, records the 360-degree panorama. Directions: Follow the old railway trackbed signed ‘The Sett Valley Trail and Pennine Bridleway’, from the car park in Hayfield. This heads west down the valley and above the River Sett to meet a minor road close to the A6015 New Mills road at Birch Vale. 2 Turn right along the road, then right again along a cobbled track behind the cottages of the Crescent into the shade of woods. Beyond a gate, the track meets a tarred farm lane at a hairpin bend. Follow the higher course to reach a country lane. Staggered to the right across it, a surfaced lane climbs further up the hillside. Take the left fork near Upper Cliffe Farm to a gate at the edge of the National Trust’s Lantern Pike site. 3 Leave the bridleway here and turn left along a grassy wallside path climbing heather and bracken slopes to the rock-fringed ridge. Turn right and climb the airy crest to Lantern Pike’s summit, which is topped by a view indicator. 4 From here, the path continues northwards from the top of Lantern Pike, descending to a gate at the northern boundary of the National Trust estate, where it rejoins the track you left earlier. Follow this northwards across high pastures to a five-way footpath signpost to the west of Blackshaw Farm. 5 Turn left along the walled farm lane past Bullshaw Farm, then right on a track passing the buildings of Matleymoor Farm. Where the track swings to the right leave it for a rough grassy track on the left. Go over the stile at its end and continue northwards on a grooved path, which joins a semi-surfaced track from Knarrs. 6 At the end turn right and walk along the road to reach the A624 road. Cross this with care and go over the stile at the far side. Turn immediately right, following a faint, rutted track with a wall on the right-hand side. This crosses the little valley of Hollingworth Clough on a footbridge before climbing up the heather slopes of Middle Moor. 7 Near a white shooting cabin, turn right on the stony Snake Path, which descends through heather at first, then, beyond a kissing gate, across fields to reach a stony walled track. Follow it down to Kinder Road near the centre of Hayfield. 8 Turn right down the lane, then left down steps to Church Street. Turn left to St Matthew’s Church, then right down a side street signed to the Sett Valley Trail. This leads to the busy main road. Cross with care back to the car park.