Cown Edge Way part 1

Bus service 375 from Stockport bus station, alight Hazelwood Road. This service also connects with both Rose Hill and Marple railway stations.

Very frequent bus service 192 from Manchester. Alight at junction of Commercial Road and A6 London Road. Walk the full length of Commercial Road and Bosden Fold Road, about half a mile, to get to the start. Or catch the 375 service.

Nearest rail station: Hazel Grove.

Part 1 of the Cown Edge Way.

[1] A blue sign on Bosden Fold Road guides you to the start of the walk some 60 yards beyond the junction with Hazelwood Road.

[A] Start by crossing Poise Brook, the main stream in Hazel Grove. In year 1560, Richard Bullock leased land from John Torkington for a smithy and the place was known as Bullock Smithy until 1835 when it was renamed Hazel Grove, possibly derived from the hazel tree  in Torkington near to Poise Brook.

As indicated by the sign post, cross the field in a NE direction to a gap in the hedge then cross a stile beside a gate. Immediately after the gap turn right and, keeping the hedge/fence line on your right, pass through a stile. Follow the path, keeping the hedge and ditch on your right, to reach a further stile. Cross the stile and continue along the field edge, with the ditch on your right, to reach Offerton Road (A627).

[2] As indicated by the sign post, turn left (north) and follow the footway for 500 yards to just before Offerton Old Road.

[3] Cross Offerton Road and, noting the green metal finger post, follow the well-used path for 400 yards between a tree avenue of mainly silver birches with the attractive Stockport golf course on your right. Bear left to skirt the golf course and then over a stile to follow a field footpath, keeping the hedge on your right, to reach a stile on your right at the edge of Torkington Woods.

[B] Torkington Woods. In the spring Wood Anemones, Lesser Celandine and Dogs Mercury can be found, while later on Dog Violets and creeping Cinquefoil, and you also may see Painted Lady and Large Tortoishell butterflies.

[4] Cross stile and contour round the edge of the woods for 250 yards to a three arm sign post (with Cown Edge Way plate); turn left to cross a shallow clough via the small footbridge.

The Way then leads intriguingly in and out of Torkington Woods (with the golf course again on your right) for 440 yards. Turn left at the waymark and descend to Torkington Brook.

Cross the footbridge and climb steeply through the woods on the eastern side and then follow due east along its northern edge for 250 yards. Pass through two stiles and walk between two wire fences for 125 yards to reach the Middlewood Way.

[C ] The MiddleWood Way began life in 1869 with the opening of the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway. It carried passengers and large amounts of coal and stone until it closed in 1970. It is now a route for cyclists, walkers and horse riders between Marple and Macclesfield.

[5] Cross the Way and continue almost due east to follow the partly waymarked path alongside Marple Golf Course, partly skirting and partly within a narrow belt of woodland. Here the path curves right, and crosses the golf course in a slight depression. Watch out crossing the fairways. As you approach the canal the bulk of Goyt Mill looms to your left. Join the towpath on the western bank of the Macclesfield Canal.

[D]The Macclesfield Canal, planned in 1795, was not completed until 1831. It did give rise to a number of mills along its route and is now used extensively by pleasure boats

[6] Turning left here leads to the centre of Marple (approximately one mile), with bus and train services to Stockport, Manchester, New Mills etc.).

To continue The Cown Edge Way turn right (south) to follow the canal towpath for just over half a mile, passing below bridges 5 and 6 (Windlehurst Road) to finish the walk at bridge number 7.

A Walk of Contrasts

The Cown Edge Way was conceived by the Manchester Area of the Ramblers Association as its contribution to National Footpath Week in conservation Year 1970. It was formally opened on 26 September 1970 by Tom Normanton MP. The work in identifying a suitable route was carried out by the late Dr Frank Head (then Area President), Leslie Meadowcroft (then Area Chairman) and the late Frank Mason, with most of the practical work carried out by members of the Manchester Area of the RA.

The total walk covers about 18 miles. A fit walker will be able to complete it in a day and, if you allow at least 8 hours, you will have ample time for stops, photography, etc. However, many people will prefer to complete the walk in stages, allowing more time to enjoy the many interesting features to be seen along, and just off, the route.

The Cown Edge Way is a walk of contrasts. Passing through the edges of an upland area, it enjoys constant changes in altitude, modest in absolute terms but significant in their impact on the landscape, geology, flora, fauna, land use, architecture and climate.

Section 1 starts on the edge of the Cheshire Plain at a modest altitude of 250 feet; it passes through a lowland countryside with brick the predominant building material and hedges forming the field boundaries. However, we are climbing gradually and by the time we reach the Macclesfield Canal the fine views across the Cheshire Plain confirm we are now over 500 feet above sea level. Stone is becoming a common building material, including for the construction of the canal itself.

Sections 2 and 3 are on the upland fringe, with constant changes as we climb in and out of the valleys and cloughs. Stone is now the traditional building material – hedges still dominate but stone walls appear along the more elevated sections. Section 4 is very much an upland area since it lies entirely above the 600 feet contour line. Sections 5 and 6 show most of the characteristics of sections 2 and 3 as we gradually descend towards the plain.

Geology of the Cown Edge Way

The section of the walk between Hazel Grove and Hawk Green is characterised by gently undulating glacial deposits set down about 10,000 years ago, a legacy of a warming climate following the most recent episode of an Ice Age during the glaciers at one point extended from the polar ice cap to what are now the River Thames and the Severn Estuary.

The abrupt, steeply sided gulleys, such as those seen at Poise Brook and at Torkington Woods, now carry only small streams. Their depth highlights the great erosive power of huge quantities of meltwater from receding glaciers cutting through this unconsolidated glacial drift like a knife through butter. Fairly fine deposits (i.e. consisting of small particles of material), intensive cultivation and man’s attempt to nurture a fine soil test the eye of the keenest geologist until the gully at Torkington Woods reveals a rich harvest of pebbles and boulders of rock types including volcanic ashes, lavas, granites and metamorphic rocks carried hundreds of miles south by the ice from the Lake District, Scotland and Scandinavia. Look for flat faces, pyramidal shapes and scratches: boulders carried at the base of the ice cannot roll along and become rounded. The slow moving ice encapsulates and drags one face to be worn flat by the resistant rock over which it flows.

Solid rock is not seen until Hawk Green as we cross from 10,000 year old glacial deposits to the solid rock of the 320 million year old coal measures of the Carboniferous Period, a legacy of an age during which we lay close to the equator. Subsequent northward movement of the continent brought desert conditions but the underlying 225 million year old desert sandstones of the Permo-Triassic rocks of Hazel Grove are hidden by the glacial deposits. To the east, the rocks are extensively faulted and become progressively older. The grits and shales of the Millstone Grit series were laid on a continental shelf by floodwaters. Subsequent folding and erosion created a series of scarps pointing towards the Peak District, which look particularly impressive from Cown Edge.

Below Cown Edge lies a magnificent landslip, a consequence of the shales being lubricated by underground water. The landslip covers the glacial deposits and is thought to have occurred between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Broadbottom beach, the point at which we cross the River Etherow, consists of gritstone carried downstream by the river and a rich variety of glacial deposits. These can be seen not only in the meander to the right but also at the base of the steep eroded bank to the left of the bridge.

This route was developed in 1970 by  Dr Frank Head, Leslie Meadowcroft and Frank Mason. It has been published in printed form on 5 occasions since then. It has just been revised again by Janet Cuff and Steve Slater and checked by Margaret Metcalf.