Holymoorside Inner Circular

By bus: The village is reached by the half hourly bus (No 84) from New Beetwell St, Chesterfield, which stops outside the Village Hall. On Sundays and Bank Holidays the service is hourly.

By car: There is ample roadside parking close to the Village Hall for those using their own transport . Please do not use the Village Hall car park.

This route largely follows public rights of way shown as dotted green lines on Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 269 - Chesterfield and Alfreton, and Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure Map - OL24 - The Peak District, White Peak area. 

[1] Near the main village bus stop is the Village Hall and car park. Start by locating the War Memorial and adjacent Central Stone (A) in the car park. Standing with your back to this turn left, follow the tarmac path behind the Village Hall to a gate and turn left. You pass the site of a former cotton mill on your left (B). Just beyond the signed path going right is Cotton Mill dam (C). Turn left beyond the mill (wall sign to St Peter's Church). Follow this path past the graveyard and go straight on over 2 stiles to a road.

[2] Take the hard surface track opposite. Follow this past Rose Farm and round to the right up to another minor road. Turn right  then first left  through Bage Hill Farm. Take the stile directly opposite the gate and descend to enter the wood. At the brow of the hill there is an alternative more gentle descent by a permissive path on your left. In either case turn left on the wider path and continue to the riding stables. Follow the driveway right to a waymark post and turn right through a wicket gate to reach the site of the old dye mill (D). Turn left along the drive and ascend to Harewood Road.

[3] Turn left along this for about half a mile (no pavements). Shortly you will pass the old Smelting and Red Lead Mill (E) on your left and the former Nab Quarry (F) on your right. Seventy yards beyond the end of the wooden fence on your left is a bridleway sign on your right with a Chesterfield Round Walk waymark. 

[4] Climb up through the plantation. Views open up (G and H) as you track back along the rim of the valley and begin to descend beneath overhead wires.  At the road, Loads Rd, turn right  with the former Star Inn (I) opposite. Descend past the former Hawley Corn Mill (J)  on your left and continue past the Lamb Inn to return to your starting point.

Many of the former industrial buildings mentioned have wall plaques with details provided by the Holymoorside and District Historical Society. Many are now private houses and privacy should be respected.

(A) Central Stone - This is the Central Stone of Holymoorside and Walton Parish. There are eight Boundary Stones for the parish ,each with a short bit of text, which form a puzzle for those with a sense of curiousity. On their own the engraved words ' Obelisk' and 'Note' mean nothing.

(B) Cotton Mill, circa 1780.

(C) Cotton Mill Dam - Once used to power the mill. It is approached by the side of Holymoor House, the former residence of Simeon Menlove a mill owner at the time. The dam is now a fishing pond.

(D) Site of former Dye Mill - The only remaining parts of the dye works are what is now part of the garage and the doorstep, centrally placed on the lawn.

(E) Smelting and Red Lead Mill - 1659 to 1812 - later to become a corn mill.

(F) Nab Quarry - A now disused quarry. Stone from this quarry was used for many of the walls on the Yew Tree Estate in nearby Walton.

(G and H) Distant views of Chesterfield and its Crooked Spire and closer in the village of Holymoorside. Note the woods of the Hipper Valley and the steep ascent to Stone Edge.

(I) The old Star Inn - circa 1825

(J) Hawley Corn Mill.

Holymoorside was once a hive of industry with the River Hipper providing the power for many cotton mills. All that has gone but the evidence remains in a pleasant village set in good walking countryside.

'It is more than a a boundary - the secrets of Holymoorside and Walton stones revealed'. Produced by the Millennium Project Group of Holymoorside and Walton Parish - available for purchase from their Historical Society. Designed and printed by North East Derbyshire District Council in 2000. www.holymoorsidehistoricalsociety.com

Many of the former industrial sites have wall plaques provided by the Holymoorside and District History Society - as above.

'Holymoorside - past and present' by Ronald Entwhistle - available from the History Society as above.

See also the Hidden Gems Audio Trail of Holymoorside - www.hidden-gems.org.uk

For more information on the village and parish see: www.holymoorsideandwaltonparishcouncil.co.uk

Map: OS Explorer Map 269 and Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure Map - OL24 

In the event of any problems being experienced with public rights of way en route please report them to esprow@derbyshire.gov.uk (or 08456 058058 asking for the Rights of Way unit) with the location, and full details.

This route has been produced on behalf of Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire Group of the Ramblers'. The Group already produces leaflet of The Chesterfield Round Walk (a 34 miles circuit of the Chesterfield - the path from Harewood Rd to Loads Rd is on this route), and The South Chesterfield Way (an 11 mile route connecting Chesterfield to Clay Cross which passes by Rose Farm on this route). Dronfield Footpaths and Bridleways Society produce leaflets connecting Dronfield to Chesterfield - The North Chesterfield Way (9 miles) and the Drone Valley Way (7.5 miles). Three alternative East Chesterfield Ways, with directions from Chesterfield to Bolsover, and vice versa, are available on Ramblers' Routes.

To obtain more information on the Group please see www.chesterfieldramblers.com. Contact can be made via cnedra@btinternet.com.