Skip to main content

Barley Circular - Saturday 8th September 2018

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. Prior to that, there had been a chapel recorded on the site of the current church since 1250.There is an oval set in the west face of the tower known as the ‘all seeing eye of God’, reputed to protect the villagers from evil.

This and other surrounding villages are, of course, famous for their ‘witches’ who suffered the trials in Lancaster Castle following various reported activities which were put down to their craft.
We escaped the rain by sheltering inside the church where we were greeted by a couple of ladies who had, following the cancellation of their village flower festival, decided to provide coffee and homemade cake for anybody crazy enough to venture out in such dire conditions.As we dried our gear and settled down to coffee and cake, they explained how the church had become part of the Blackburn Diocese only in 1926, so we said we would think of them in 2026 when they would be celebrating their centenary within the diocese.

Much as it would have been lovely to spend all day in the church, we set off in intrepid fashion along the road towards Sabden Fold, past the Shekinah Christian Centre.Then came our second climb over Driver Height which is not only terribly steep, but tantalised us with many false summits before reaching the top, made all the more ‘fun’ by the driving rain.Despite all these forces working against it being a nice walk, everybody came together in camaraderie fashion and decided this was a good place to take numerous photos of the group,  while we tried to stumble our way down the steep drop toward the reservoir. Then along the easiest  part of the walk back to Barley following the reservoir.

We passed Pendle Hill which is, of course, famous for George Fox who experienced his vision there which led to his forming The Quaker Movement.

Back at the car park, we dried off and headed for ‘The Barley Mow’ who welcomed us with some very good food.

A great day and turnout considering the weather, though maybe the next one should be planned for a nice hot summer’s day.





Preparing to set off


At the summit Driver Heights
Path down to Ogden Reservoir




Nearly back at the start


The Barley Mow      https://barleymowpendle.co.uk/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ashworth and Norden - Saturday 10th November 2018

Ashworth and Norden, Rochdale. St Jame's Church, Ashworth A party of six set out from Norden, Rochdale for this 5 mile ramble through the local countryside.From the car park we turned into Black Pits Lane and very soon arrived at the footpath alongside Naden Brook. At the bridge next to remains of the old mill, we crossed the river, and then began the climb out of the valley to a farm track which leads up to the ancient church of St James Bamford and the former pub known as the Chapel House, which is now a private residence. Here we stopped to admire the old church with its interesting grave stones and the views across Lancashire to Manchester and Derbyshire. We then crossed the fields to the old schoolhouse before joining Ashworth Rd to take us down to Simpson and Gelder Cloughs. Unfortunately we found the road closed because of a landslide and we had to retrace our steps and take an alternative path down to the valley. Not wishing to miss out the scenery

Birtle - Saturday 11th February 2017

The first walk of the 2017 season started from the Pack Horse Inn, Birtle on the lower slopes of the Pennines above Heywood. On a cold wet windy Saturday we set off from the Inn to follow the road north on a long steady climb to the hamlet of Birtle where we then turned to follow the path along the edge of Ashworth Valley. Unfortunately from the top the views over Lancashire were obscured by cloud and mist but the views of the wooded valley with Cheesden Brook running through provided some compensation. We made a detour from the route to visit Nabs Wife the site of the former Tea room and weaving mill known as Kershaws Bridge. The site is now occupied by a private dwelling  although the old mill yard is still evident. From here we continued along the edge of the valley before turning to take the path across fields to return to the start point and a long leisurely lunch in the pub! Further information: http://www.packhorseinnbury.co.uk/about http://heywoodmonkey.blogspot.co.uk/2

Quarry Bank Mill and Styal Country Park - Saturday 10th August 2019

This walk came about during a discussion over coffee after Church probably two Sundays ago and was a bit of a corporate effort. Nothing was planned until some one mentioned Styal Mill and possibilities of lunch at the Ship Inn. One person had a much walked route embedded in her boots! This route also allowed the opportunity to cut back through the beautiful gardens if the prospect of the few short but sharp inclines was too much. Firstly we had coffee in the Mill restaurant before ten of us set off from the old Mill Yard (featured in ‘The Mill’ TV series). We went up the hill from the Mill towards the Apprentice House but turned left along the track that skirts the outer edges of land round the original home of the Gregg family. This used to be a muddy path but in the last few years the National Trust has upgraded many of the paths on the estate, making them accessible to more visitors, including wheelchair users and children’s buggies.  We dropped down to the River Bolli