LITMIR.BIZ

      The cobbled ford at Brookside, Butterton

      Turn left to enter Butterton, which has a prosperous air about it, and pass the Post Office, with Calor gas banner. The place name derives from ‘butter don’ meaning ‘the hill with rich pastures for the production of milk and butter’, obviously noted for such since Saxon times. Make a point of bearing up left to visit the parish church, passing the The Black Lion Inn. Descend from the pub down the single-track lane by Stoop House Farm to the dale-bottom cottages and the attractive ford/footway beside Brookside Cottage.

      Immediately after the cottage find the footpath signed right through the cottage grounds and along a confined path to a wall-stile into a pasture field. Keep left to traverse a series of long pasture crofts by a sequence of four wall-stiles and three wicket-gates, followed by a further wall-stile; eventually reach a stile beside the cottage garden hedge at The Twist. Pass under the garden wall with a brook close left; step down over a ditch to reach a wall-stile into pasture proper again.

      Ascend the damp pasture by Little Twist. Pass up between a derelict cottage and integral barn left and a further stone barn over to the right. Gaining height look back towards distant Ecton Hill. Arrive upon a wooden field-gate and stile and pass Twistgreen Farm, joining its access track. At the path crossways take the left-hand option, not the open track. Traverse the pasture to the fence-stile onto the road beside the neat field-wall.

      Turn left to reach the open track right beside the National Trust’s Grindon Moor sign. Follow the track on down; where the more regular way swings left, keep forward to descend by thickets of gorse, coming down onto a metalled road leading by Home Farm to meet the Warslow road. Cross to the far side to face oncoming traffic. Notice the green footpath sign on the Old Hall side directing to the 47th Squadron Cairn, an RAF memorial situated further up this path above the village

      The walk crosses the Hamps once more, perhaps via the pub footbridge and bar!

WALK 4

      Revidge

      Quite naturally the plaudits and praise for a pleasurable few hours’ walking from Hulme End are normally garnered by the Manifold Track, but it would be wrong to think that is the summation of good walking country. The wider scenic setting revealed on this outing certainly merits investigation. The walk encounters both the heather-clad moorland scarp of Revidge – ‘the edge frequented by foxes’ – and the lovely little village of Warslow, which intriguingly translates as ‘the clearing with a watch-tower’.

      Begin by striding down the Manifold Track; the modern smooth metalled trail replaced the tracks lifted in 1935. At the second footpath crossing point under the wooded bank, depart right through the kissing-gate; switch right, then smartly left, gaining height up the thorn bank on an apparent path leading up the hillside. Soon lovely views open up over the Manifold valley with gorse banks opposite and the large eastern slope of Ecton Hill casting shadows into the valley.

      The Manifold valley seen from the path to Warslow

      THE MANIFOLD VALLEY: AN INDUSTRIAL PAST

      The scenery certainly justifies this early decision to eschew the popular Track to gain a mid-height perspective of Ecton Hill. Down in the valley the tightly contorted strata of Apes Tor are clearly seen just above the road. Copper, deposited in vertical pipe veins some 200 million years ago when mineralised fluids surged up fractures in the up-folded limestone, brought considerable wealth, particularly to two landowning families who controlled Ecton’s mining operations at the zenith of their production during the latter half of the 18th century. The Dukes of Devonshire (Chatsworth House, Derbyshire) and the Burgoynes (Sutton Park, Bedfordshire) were the principal beneficiaries. The ore was laundered in the Manifold valley and dispatched on pack mules from Wettonmill Bridge, via Waterslack and Winkhill, to Whiston, beyond Cauldon Low, where a smelt works was established powered by Cheadle coal. The last 100 years since the final demise of the mines has seen a considerable softening of the harsh legacy of spoil and dereliction, the valley stepping back from the limelight of industrial exploitation for good.

      Cross a stile onto more open cattle pasture to gain even more open views; the eastern slopes ahead, where hedgerows cling to the line of medieval cultivation terracing, are especially intriguing. The path traces across the pasture, declining to a squeeze-stile beside a wooden field-gate onto the minor road. Go forward up the hill, keeping left at the junction with Cawlow Lane to enter Warslow. At the ‘give way’ sign cross the main road (Leek Road) onto the footway and go left to the junction.

      St Lawrence’s Church, Warslow

      The tree-sheltered parish church of St Lawrence may be visited ahead beyond a pair of cottages with handsome windows. The church, which dominates the village, has an unusually wide chancel and some William Morris windows; the estate owners, the Harpur-Crewes of Chalke Abbey, had an interest in the Arts and Crafts Movement.

      Otherwise turn up right into the upper village passing the popular Greyhound Inn, formerly known as the Greyhound and Hare – at this stage in the walk you might yet consider haring on yourself! The footway leads up past Stacey Close and the access to the large Manifold Primary School. Beyond the little chapel leave the village with a broad verge, taking leave of the main road by forking left into the inviting lane short of the speed limit signs.

      Keep forward where the Oils Heath lane breaks left, leading on past a delightfully renovated cottage, which clearly enjoys a sequestered location and a lovely view across the wide Warslow Brook valley. One has the feeling that this enchanting lane should go on and on, but like all good things there is an end (or at least a cause to change direction). Ignore the first stile right, but where the lane swings left go through the squeeze-stile beside a wooden field-gate on the right. Now turn right beside the wall, crossing several old wall foundations and weaving through some gorse to reach the Warslow road again at a wicket-gate.

      Turn left, accompanying the road only for a matter of fifty or so metres, stepping off right at the stile beside the wooden field-gate. A green track traverses the rush pasture to slip through a twin stone squeeze-stile between a holding pen and wooden field-gate. With a wall to the left follow the path initially beside open woodland then rough pasture to reach a fence-stile into the moorland enclosure (with brown access land sign). A clear heather-fringed track leads north beside a fence towards the pine copse. Passing a barrier come to a broad turning area from where leads a small spur path left, up through the pines and onto the heather top of Revidge. The white Ordnance Survey

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