Tuesday 25 November 2025 - GM Ringway Trail Stage 17 - Leigh to Irlam

Leigh has no railway station, so our journey to the start of Stage 17 was by tram to St Peter's Square, then the V1 bus to Leigh. The latter uses the Busway created on the route of a disused railway line. Our chairs at the front of the top of the double decker bus were the most comfortable seats we've had on the entire trail.

Alan and Sheila have other commitments so won't be joining us again this year, so that leaves a core of the five of us - me, Sue, Rick, Paul and Jeanette, for the last few stages (unless Roger, Viv and Steve reappear!).

After coffee and croissants in a café near the well laid out bus station, we walked along suburban streets that led to a pleasant path through Hope Carr Nature Reserve.

The walk continued through farmland with views across to distant hills that we had traversed on earlier stages of the GM Ringway Trail.

On reaching Windy Bank Wood we took an optional 2km detour through the woods that surround Windy Bank Farm. Birds of prey lurked above us.

By the end of the detour it was 1pm - time for lunch on a convenient picnic bench.

Soon afterwards we went under the railway line that was the world's first inter-city train route, between Liverpool and Manchester.

Then field paths led to the route of the Salford Trail, which we followed on and off for the rest of the day.

In the distance behind us, Winter Hill was lovely and clear on the sunny day.

Just beyond the railway line at Glazebury, we passed the first of three historic houses - Light Oaks Hall. Dating from 1657, the current building is a fragment of a bigger house with large mullioned-and-transomed windows.

Our path continued to the left of Glaze Brook, past a lone oak tree.

Several fields of winter greens seem to be doing nicely.

Moss Side Farm is home to what the GM Ringway guide describes as a 'collection of unusual vehicles'. I was persuaded by the others to record these for the benefit of Conrad (Sir Hugh) and AlanR.

In a ditch, a bit further on, a forklift truck similar to the one I drove for a year in 1970/71 when I worked at Blackett Hutton steel foundry in Guisborough. It's probably a housing estate now.

Soon afterwards we reached Little Woolden Moss, then Great Woolden Moss, where certain areas have been allowed to flood for the benefit of wildlife.

As when I've visited this area before, numerous twitchers in camouflage gear with long lenses were busy trying to capture images of the short-eared owls that come out to hunt around dusk.

The paths around these mosses have been renewed in recent years, thanks to grants (pre Brexit) from the EU and others. We paused at a convenient bench and information board to finish our tea/coffee and enjoy more of Jeanette's tasty cake.

Eventually our route said goodbye to the mosses and passed Little Woolden Hall, the second historic building on today's route. 

For much of the 19th century, Little Woolden Hall was occupied by the Travis family who also lived in other parts of Cadishead. It would appear that Dean Travis has recently done a great amount of work tracing his ancestry in the UK and in the USA and others have checked some information for Dean in the census books, of which most are in Irlam Library, along with Dean checking much information on the internet and through family records.

The third historic building is the farm buildings of Great Woolden Hall, on the other side of the M62 motorway.

Before leaving the modern farm on the footpath where Rick is pictured below, I'll add a few paragraphs borrowed from the internet to illustrate the depth of history surrounding this area.

Great Woolden Hall (above) lies on the east bank of the Glaze Brook
as it meanders southwards towards the Mersey.

It is an extensive farm which has developed across a large site since the middle ages, and is, 

according to rumour, haunted by the ghost of Captain Blood, of Crown Jewels fame.

However that is not why you are here. Great Woolden Hall is also the site of the first extensively 

excavated Iron Age and Romano-British farmstead in the northwest of England. The farmstead

lies on a raised promontory overlooking the Glaze Brook, just west of the modern farm.

Despite initial appearances the site isn't a fort of any kind, though the deep river to the west and 

the wild mossland to the east may have offered some defensive benefits. Ditches have been

identified on the eastern edge of the site which were probably more of an enclosure rather than a palisade.

The earliest evidence of human activity here is a number of worked flint pieces dating from 

neolithic times, which are unlikely to be associated with any actual settlement at the site. 

The people who first settled here permanently would have done so during the first millennium BC, 

most likely in the century before the birth of Christ. They would have been Iron Age Celtic 

people involved in some agriculture and animal husbandry. Occupation of the site continued for 

several hundred years, spanning a period including the Roman conquest and the subsequent 

assimilation of the people of this island into the Roman cultural sphere.

It is thought that a few circular buildings or enclosures were in use at the site during each period

 of occupation and several ovens and hearths have also been identified. Sadly extensive 

ploughing has destroyed many of the buried structures on the site but enough evidence

was available to the archaeologists to enable a meaningful interpretation of life at the site to be made.

As the sun was setting behind us, we strolled along the paths of Cadishead Moss to reach the town of Irlam and a short wait for a train to Oxford Road.

Museum piece outside Irlam Station

Here's our route - 19 km with 50 metres ascent, taking us 4 hours and 40 minutes. Another splendid stage of this 200 mile trail.

Stage 18 will be walked on Tuesday 9 December. Here's the flier:
GM Ringway Trail - Stage 18 - Irlam to Altrincham. Meet at Irlam Station at 11:02 for this eighteenth 17km stage of the 20 stage circuit of Greater Manchester.
Arrive on the 10:46 train from Oxford Road.
Return home from Altrincham.

And here's a delicious chocolate raspberry pavlova that we polished off the following day when Reg and Saro joined us for lunch.