View site as:

Short walks - in High Peak - Ford Hall, Slack Hall, Bowden Hall,

Difficulty Moderate

Walking time 2 hours

Length 7.7km / 4.8mi

Route developer: Frances Pickering

Route checker: Stephen Rhodes

Start location Chapel-en-le-Frith Town End
Route Summary A stunning circular walk from the eastern end of Chapel-en-le-Frith. It ascends out of Chapel, over fields and along green lanes, with glorious views all around. It passes through hamlets and at least 3 old halls.
*move mouse over graph to see points on route
Getting there

The start of this walk is on the 199 bus route from Manchester to Buxton. Get off/on the bus at Chapel Town End, outside the Methodist Church.

By car

Along the A6 from Stockport: Turn right at the 2nd roundabout on the Chapel by-pass, sign post to Chapel, A624. At the next roundabout turn left and along to a T-junction, which is one way for the last 100 yards. Turn left here and carry straight on. Find a parking space on the main road straight after passing the left fork to Buxton.

Along the A6 from Buxton: After passing through the village of Dove Holes, take the first exit left at the roundabout. Take the next fork left into Chapel. Find a parking space on the right at the bottom of the hill, just before the acute right turn.

 

Description

[1] Starting at the point in Chapel Town End where Market Street becomes Buxton Road, follow the left-hand fork road, signed Buxton (A6). Walk up the right-hand side of this road and pass under the dual carriageway. Continue up the hill and reach a footpath fingerpost on the right, just after crossing the slip road to Buxton. The path descends several steps and goes steeply downhill. It soon bends to the left and then right to cross a small stream. Continue straight ahead uphill to a pylon. Here the path is hard to see, but it turns left, round the pylon and continues up the field, parallel with the field boundary to the left.

[2]  Walk up this field and through a v-shaped hole in the ridge, then the path goes through a wooden gate and left downhill, bending to the right at the bottom. Cross the footbridge and to a T junction in the stone slab path. Turn right and carry on beside the wall, walking on a stone slab path. Follow the path up the field, to pass through a squeeze stile. Continue up the field with the wall on the right-hand side. The path widens and leads to a stile beside a gate. (A) Turn and look back here for good views over Chapel and to the conical hill - Eccles Pike. The track passes between 2 drystone walls, over another stile and into the yard of Bagshaw Hall Farm. Carry straight on up the road into the hamlet of Bagshaw.

[3]   Pass the telephone box on the left and carry on up the road. Half way up the hill is a footpath fingerpost where a track forks off left. Go down this track, passing Pinfold Farm on the left. The track broadens out into a yard. Go to a gate in the far righthand corner of the yard, beside a large workshed. Through the gate, the path is hard to see, but walk up the fields, keeping the field boundaries on the right. Climb over a stile and continue ahead over a very uneven field with a brook to you righthand side.

[4] At a drystone wall there is a gate with some steps over the wall. Cross the wall and keep the wall on your left and and go over another set of steps through a gate into the next field. Continue straight on towards a cottage at the top of the field. The stile in the next wall is a little way up to the left.  Exit the next field onto the road between a large tree and the garden wall of the cottage. Turn right along the road. This is the hamlet of Stonyford. Straight after the cottage on the left, there is a footpath fingerpost and a squeeze stile. Turn left here cross a yard, go through a gate into a small copse. Go up the hill to a stile beside a gate. In this field it is again hard to see the path. Head half right, up the field to the stile in the right hand wall. (B) Turn here, and Chapel is hidden in the valley, but the ridge of Combs Moss with the Roman fort of Castle Naze on top, is visible on the sky line.

[5] Head diagonally left across the next field, where there is a second stile in the corner. (C) on the skyline ahead, the small tower is a ventilation shaft for Cowburn Tunnel, on the Hope Valley railway line. Keep the drystone wall on the left through the next field until a barn is reached. Turn left and go through the stile by the fingerpost to exit onto a green lane. Bear right, and almost immediately climb over the stile on the left by a fingerpost. Follow the track left and down the hill to the Chapel to Castleton road. Climb over the stile and cross the road to a farm track.

[6] Walk over the cattle grid and follow the track as it curves round and up to reach Bettfield Farm on the other side of the valley.  On reaching Bettfield farm, look for a stile next to a gate on your right. Head towards the bottom lefthand end of a small copse at the end of the next field. Cross a stile and continue along beside the wall, with a row of trees to the right. Cross another stile into a strip of woodland along a valley with a stream tumbling down it. Follow the path down and right, cross the stream and go left back up hill. Cross the stile in the wall on the right, into an avenue of trees.

[7] At the end of the avenue, continue on with the wall on the left, into the corner, where there is gate stile. Go down a wide uneven track. At the bottom of the track, take the gate on the right and follow the path to the road. This is the hamlet of Ford Hall. Turn left along the road and past the hall on the left. (D) Ford Hall  - This has at least 3 phases of building, the earliest dating back to 13th century. Follow the road down, then round to the right over on old stone bridge and back uphill to a T-junction.  Before turning right at the T-junction turn left to see Slack Hall a small distance to the left (E) Slack Hall which is now a B & B, is opposite the Chestnut Centre, a wildlife park.  Return to the T-junction, carry on up the road to look for a footpath soon on the left.

[8] Climb the stile beside the gate and follow the footpath with the field boundary on the left. Climb over the stile beside a gate on the left and continue in the same direction, now with the wall on the right. Go through a gate and carry on down the hill, heading to a small copse of trees. Just past the trees, there is a stile in the wall on the right; climb over and continue down hill, now with the wall on the left. At the end of the field, go through a small wooden gate to a crossroad of paths.

[9] Turn right here (signpost - to Wash) and go along this green lane to the road. Turn left along the road to pass Bowden hall. (F) Bowden Hall - built in the Tudor style in the first half of the 19th Century. Just past the hall, turn left through a small metal gate beside a gate. Go straight ahead beside the wall, with views of Bowden Hall side and gardens. Through another small metal gate to follow the path with a hedge on the right. Follow this path to a kissing gate and some steps up to the dual carriageway - A6 Chapel by-pass. Cross with care, to steps and a stile leading to a footpath opposite. Where this path comes to a crossroads with a green lane, turn left along the lane. (G) Peak Forest Tramway - This was an early horse and gravity tramway which ran between Bugsworth and Dove Holes. Follow the path, noting the carved stone sleeper blocks underfoot, then through a gap in the wall, where it passes beside an HGV yard on the right and allotments on the left. At the end of the track turn right and go along beside buildings on the left and the HGV yard on the right. This brings you back to Market Street, Chapel, and the start of the walk.

POI information No details available.
Notes

Refreshments and toilets are available at wildlife park without paying the entrance fee.

Acknowledgements No details available.
  • Crossing the stream, between waymarks 6 and 7
    Crossing the stream, between waymarks 6 and 7
    By - Fred Pickering
  • Ford Hall
    Ford Hall
    By - Fred Pickering
  • Slack Hall
    Slack Hall
    By - Fred Pickering
  • Footpath sign
    Footpath sign
    By - Fred Pickering
  • Bowden Hall
    Bowden Hall
    By - Fred Pickering
This route has been viewed 19 times

Reviews

Be the first person to review this route!