St Paul's Rambling Group Heaton Moor

Barley Circular Village Hall Barley   We left St. Paul’s Church under a threatening sky towards the beautiful village of Barley in Lancashire only to find the rain had set in on our arrival about an hour later. Six of us left the car park for the old water works building which now boasts a glorious conversion to apartments.Next over the footbridge to our first climb of the day over a rather boggy, clumpy set of fields. As expected, the path proved a little difficult to follow here but after a bit of team work, we were back on track passing a farmhouse and over the hill towards Newchurch, The village is famous for its ‘Witches Galore Shop’ and usually has three old stuffed crones sitting outside but their absence probably reflected the extreme weather conditions that proved too much, even for them! Originally the village was called Goldshaw Booth but the Newchurch name came into use in October 1544 when John Bird, Bishop of Chester, consecrated the new church of St. Mary.