The walk is likely to be muddy at times, especially after wet weather! Care is required when walking close to open water.
Route Developer: Netty Bell
[1] Leave the car park, entering Chorlton Water Park. Take the path on the right going down the slope and when you reach the lake turn right. Follow the lake all the way round until you reach the far side (almost directly opposite to where the car park is!). You will see a gate.
[2] Pass through this gate. (Here there is a National Cycle Network 62 post). Cross over the concrete path and take the path going right along the river. The river is now to your left. Continue to follow it, passing Jackson’s Bridge on the way.
(A) In 1816 a footbridge was erected across the River Mersey. A halfpenny toll was charged to cross it on foot (or one penny with a bicycle). The bridge was named after a local farmer Jackson who cultivated land in the area and who regularly ferried people across the river by boat, charging them a small fee. This bridge was washed away in a storm and was rebuilt in 1881 as an iron girder bridge, still charging a toll to cross the river. In the 1940s Manchester Corporation bought the bridge and the toll was abolished by the end of the decade. The river Mersey is the traditional boundary between Cheshire and Lancashire. Jackson's Bridge is in the odd situation of being in old Lancashire (within the boundary of Manchester city) but on the Cheshire side of the river. This is because of natural changes in the course of the river Mersey over the centuries.
Alternative Route: For a shorter walk, go straight to way-point [8].
[3] When you see a gate on your right hand side leading into Chorlton Ees Nature Reserve (B), go through it and follow the path with the wood to your left and the field to your right.
(B) The Chorlton Ees Nature Reserve is full of lovely tracks and paths through meadows, woodland and rough grassland. It is an ideal location to observe birds and other wildlife. For over a hundred years the site was the Old Withington sewage works the remains of which are still visible today. One of the paths here was once an old sewage channel. The sewage works were closed in 1972, when a nature reserve was planned to restore the fragile habitat of the region. Many of the paths are accessible to wheelchairs and push chairs.
[4] At the end of the path go through another gate and when you get to the road turn left. (It is very muddy around here!).
[5] Carry straight on through another gate (ignoring the footbridge on your right). Continue along the same path for some distance.
[6] When you reach a T-junction take the left hand path that will soon take you back to the river. Take one of the paths on the left to follow the river which is now on your right. The top path is initially less muddy but this changes further on. Continue to follow the river, retracing your earlier steps, until you arrive back at Jackson’s Bridge (B).
[7] Cross over Jackson’s Bridge (you will notice Jackson’s Boat pub opposite).
(C) Jackson's Boat pub (previously known as The Brige Inn or Greyhound). Originally the inn was built at the end of the 18th century, replacing an old wood and planter house. Illegal cock fights used to take place in the surrounding fields. The pub is said to have had associations with the Manchester Jacobites. It is reputed that men such as Colonel Townley of the Manchester regiment and Dr John Byrom used to regularly meet with other royalists to drink the health of the King.
[8] Turn left immediately to follow the river again. (This time with the river on your left!). Continue along the path passing under a bridge that you cannot cross. Walk under it and continue to the second bridge where you cross back over the river into Chorlton Water Park.
(D) Chorlton Water Park stands on what was the site of Barlow Hall Farm. Up until the 1950s the farmer flooded the field to increase the fertility of the land. He recalled that 'the sluice gates were never opened for the first flood as this brought down the rubbish: the second flood brought down rich mud'. Gravel was excavated from the site and used in the construction of the M60 motorway in the 1970s. The gravel pit was subsequently flooded; creating the lake that is central to the Water Park today.
[9] Turn right and follow the path around the lake, past the pond and the play area.
[10] Turn right up the slop to arrive back at the car park.