Wednesday 26 April 2023

Wednesday 26 April 2023

Second of the River Irwell and its tributaries.

17 hikers turned out for the walk which started from Exchange Street, Edenfield. The weather for the first few hours was dull but mild however the sun appeared from mid-morning to provide a very pleasant day.

The route followed Dearden Clough on a gradual and sometimes steep path up to Waughs Well where the group took a well-earned coffee/tea stop.


Waughs Well was built in commemoration of local poet Edwin Waugh (1817- 1890) who was born in nearby Rochdale. It occupies a spot where Waugh spent a number of months writing some of his best work. The well and seating area overlooks the Scout Moor Reservoir.

From here we walked up to Whittle Pike where we enjoyed good views of the surrounding moors.

Whittle Pike

Whittle Pike

The cross on top of the Pike is a memorial to flying officer Geoffrey Molyneux who was one of 18 men killed while on an RAF exercise over the Irish Sea on 11 January 1955. The cross was erected by a local scout group of which Molyneux was a founder. We then observed the source of the Dearden Clough tributary before moving on to New Gate Brook and a lunch stop at some old farm ruins.

Lunch

 

View of Holcombe

After lunch, we descended to Turn Village and Anthony Fold before taking a short stop at the churchyard of St Johns in the Wilderness. The church was founded in 1845 and closed in 2017 due to significant ongoing repairs and a falling congregation. It is now the subject of a planning application for conversion into domestic dwellings.

The final stretch of the walk took us along field paths to Stubbins and past the site of the Rosebank Printing Mill back to Edenfield.

Stubbins

Total distance walked 11 miles.